


Act 2: Blood Ties

by Abalidoth, Emmalyn, FeatherWriter



Series: The Sydney Scroungers [4]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013), Sydney Scroungers
Genre: BuenaKai, Cults, Expanded Universe, Gen, Infiltration, Roleplaying Character, The Assembly of True Judgment, The Drift (Pacific Rim), Undercover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-02
Updated: 2014-02-03
Packaged: 2018-01-10 21:06:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 85,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1164527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abalidoth/pseuds/Abalidoth, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmalyn/pseuds/Emmalyn, https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeatherWriter/pseuds/FeatherWriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After their hectic first mission together, the Scroungers have earned a bit of a week off, but with a strange personal ad asking for Sylvie Mansen appears, and tensions between crewmembers over fiVe, the offshoot branch of Syl-V who has declared her independence, it seems their quiet week may turn out interesting after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sessions #11 and #12

**Scene 1**

A week has passed for the Sydney Scroungers. From a vantage of seven days, those scant few hours of gunfire and adrenaline are somewhere between a half-remembered action movie and a night terror they’ve just awakened from.

Some of them spend it in confused solitude; others in an orderly transition from one stage of life to another; still others in a frenzy of preparation for whatever task might find them on the other side of Zhu’s briefing.

But finally the time comes; five humans and a nonzero number of AIs gather around the table in the Tranquility’s brand new ready room awaiting Rachel Zhu’s call.

Katie is very nearly late.  She isn’t going to tell anyone that it’s because she spent the last few hours getting ready, frantically trying on outfits, looking in the mirror, and deciding something was wrong. She ended up going with something that is a mix of cowgirl and criminal mastermind sensibilities: long black coat, plaid shirt (one less button fastened than strictly necessary), sunglasses, functional (but cute) boots, her hair back in a loose ponytail.

It’s all calculated to be a sexy as possible without giving away that it’s intended to be anything but functional.

Seiko, on the other hand, was quite early. He needs Zhu on his side for this. With time to prepare, he looks perfectly composed, not a hair out of place with neat black eyeliner and – now that he has a place to stay – well ironed clothes.

Miranda wasn’t entirely sure what she should wear, and after a few minutes of debating, decided to prioritize functionality over formality. She did, however, put on a bit more makeup than usual; she hasn’t been getting as much sleep as she should be, and hopes Zhu won’t think anything of it. She arrived with Seiko several hours ago, and she’s been surveying the Tranquility while waiting for the meeting to begin.

Eleanor’s there a little early as well. Her hair is freshly shorn, and she’s in a casually professional outfit — a fitted blazer, black khakis, and a deep purple blouse. Just about the closest she can get to “Going Out With Coworkers-Slash-Accomplices” Chic.

Sylvie arrives about five minutes before the meeting is to start, dropping off her heavy duffle bag in the server room. She’s mostly been subvoking with Vee through her phone on the way there, but stops when she enters the newly installed conference room. She shoots Seiko a viciously dark look as she sees him, but refrains from starting a conversation, opting instead to sit as far from him as possible.

As she sits, Sylvie looks over the rest of the group, wondering if she’s dressed right for the occasion.  _What is one supposed to wear when facing the most terrifying person conceivable?_  She eventually settled on a cap-sleeve white collar shirt with an argyle sweater vest over a nice pair of jeans. She switches to texting Vee while she’s in the room so as not to disturb the others.

The view screen flashes on. Zhu is not calling from the office, nor is she in uniform; she’s in a disconcertingly homey looking environment, wearing a maroon Gundam Eternity ZX t-shirt. In the background is a small but tidy kitchen; from the looks of it, she’s sitting at her kitchen table.

Sylvie drops her phone to the table as the screen flares to life, looking suspiciously like a student getting caught playing a colorful mobile game in the middle of class by a very strict professor.

Eleanor crosses her legs self-consciously. Miranda raises an eyebrow, then subtly checks her watch. Maybe she’d gotten the time wrong.

Seiko, meanwhile, looks intent, but is subtly scoping out the quality of Zhu’s kitchen.

Katie turns very red, but to be honest, she probably would have no matter what Zhu had been doing. She quickly recovers, and says, “Er… good evening, Marshall.”

"Evening." Rachel grins. "I count five of you. I bet my old Academy instructors are jealous of the kind of class attendance I can get the week after I hand out the syllabus."

Sylvie’s phone lights up in front of her and she glances down long enough to see a text from Vee:

> **Vee:** _Six, but who would count the phone?_

"To be fair," Miranda tosses in casually, "I doubt your old Academy instructors are allowed to offer the same type of incentives you have. Absences don’t usually end in imprisonment."She hopes the Marshall recognizes that that was a joke.

Sylvie cringes, thinking Miranda is talking about her specifically, then realizes they could probably all go to prison for noncompliance. Somehow that makes her feel better for some twisted reason.

"And I don’t know about you all, but I never got paid to go to school," Eleanor says. She doesn’t add, ‘nor did I have professors who wore cute mecha shirts,’ though she wants to.

"So," Zhu begins conversationally. "First, some things you all might like to know. Samil Pillai and Tara Stricht have been placed in the Australian Government’s witness protection program under oversight of the PPDC. Gregory Lee will be joining them shortly after getting out of the hospital. A number of the Wulagu employees you captured were able to give us good information. So, good work. Not that that’s what you were actually trying to accomplish, but good work nonetheless."

Miranda nods. “Thanks, ma’am.” She’s tempted to argue about the hostages - information is a valuable resource, after all - but figures now isn’t the time for that.

"Sadly,” Zhu continues. “Wulagu seems to have gone into deep hiding. Bank accounts drained and rerouted, bases of operation gutted, identities vanishing off the grid. I think it’ll be a while before she resurfaces."

"None of my contacts knew her location either," Seiko tells her. "Wherever she is, it isn’t the underworld."

Eleanor frowns. “We don’t even have a vague idea? A continent, maybe?”

Zhu shakes her head slightly.”I think it’d be a waste of time looking for her now. Not when she’s on the defensive like this. She’s likely somewhere in East Asia, but…” She shrugs and raises a coffee mug to her lips. “We’ll be on the lookout for when she pops her head out again.”

"Ma’am, if you could forward my IT specialist any information you  _do_  have, I’d much appreciate it. I want to make sure things are as unpleasant for her as possible when she does decide to come back on the grid.”

"What about allies?" Miranda offers. "Wulagu can’t run an operation as large as hers on her own; she’d need to work with other undesirables. We could deal with some of them while we wait for her to show up again."

Zhu nods. “I can do that. I’m making preparations on my end, as well. I think sending Vulcan out to take away her new toy gave her a healthy respect for how serious I am.”

"It certainly gave  _us_  that,” Katie says.

Sylvie coughs nervously at the mention of Vulcan and the ‘healthy respect’ it inspired, then ducks her head, hoping Zhu will continue to not address her.

"Not that I’m not going through hell for authorizing that launch,” Zhu continues, “but I still think it was worth it. I just wish I could do something similar about… what happened in Darwin earlier this week."

Miranda’s eyebrows furrow a bit at Zhu’s tone. “Didn’t I hear about something happening in Darwin..?” she mutters to herself. She really needs to be more thorough about eavesdropping on her coworkers.

Seiko bows his head solemnly, recalling the incident Zhu is talking about. “Jaegers,” he mutters, “work better against a different kind of monster. In my experience they are better at spreading poison than preventing it.”

Miranda glances over at Seiko. His stance reminds her of what had actually happened. “Right…” she whispers.

Curious, Sylvie picks up her phone, quickly texting Vee.

> **Sylvie:** _Search results for recent events in Darwin?_

Sylvie’s eyes go wide as Vee aggregates search results, the first few results about a biochemical terrorist attack in a shopping mall in Darwin. Sarin gas. Then she pulls up a few more… sensitive results related to the incident, ones that the authorities have obviously tried to hide. The fact that the gas was mixed with Kaiju Blue. A release to the government by a group called “The Assembly of True Judgment” taking credit for the attack, some Kaiju cult by the looks of it.

Digging in a bit deeper she finds some small amount of info about the cult itself. They’ve pulled off a few hostage situations in the past, but Darwin was their first terror attack. In addition to this, she finds that they’re led by two prophets, at least one of whom is a young woman.

She decides to keep quiet about it, thinking that perhaps flashing Vee’s probably-hacked restricted info in front of the Marshall is not the best of ideas.

Rachel rubs her temples. “And if you’re thinking I’m going to send you lot in there… you’re entirely the wrong kind of tool for that. But it does mean I haven’t had the time to put together an assignment for you all yet. With your skills and that ship, I have no doubt you all can find something nice and safe to do this week to keep you all busy. Smuggling nuclear warheads, maybe. Breeding tiger sharks?”

Miranda speaks up.”Can we get sharks with laser beams attached to their foreheads?”

Zhu laughs, deeply and genuinely, andMiranda smiles at that.”God forbid that super-villain Wulagu rubs off on you,” the Marshall says.

"Marshall,” Seiko says. “As long as I believe your orders will eventually lead to the death of Wulagu, you can be assured I will not fall prey to any ‘super-villain influences’ or petty adventurism." The glance is not pointed, but he looks towards Katie and Sylvie on that last bit.

Sylvie keeps scrolling through document after article after report, already mentally sorting through what Vee’s dredging up. “Marshall,” she says quietly, not looking up. “Is that an order to stay out of the Darwin situation, or simply not a direct order to go in?”

Zhu narrows her eyes.

Sylvie glances up when Zhu doesn’t respond immediately and makes a small squeaking noise when she sees the Marshall’s expression.

"I believe that the unusual nature of this arrangement may have given you some misconceptions, Ms. Mansen," Zhu says firmly."You are, all of you, unofficial and off the record. While I have had need to pull the don’t-do-this-thing-wink-wink-nudge-nudge card a number of times in the past in more… aboveboard situations, that will  _never_  happen here.”

"Got that," Eleanor says, nodding slowly. She’s not sure she likes where this is going. Or rather, she’s not sure she likes not  _knowing_  where this is going.

Zhu closes her eyes and re-centers herself. When she speaks again, there is no more anger in her voice. “When I tell you not to do something? Don’t fucking do it. This isn’t me playing tin pot dictator, and I’m not the gruff police sergeant ignoring the renegade cop who Gets Things Done. I’m telling you not to go to Darwin because a sub-rosa quick response team like the five of you is not equipped to handle a large-scale bioterror attack cleanup, or the manhunt that follows it.”

Miranda nods curtly.  _Dammit Mansen, she’d been laughing…_  She starts running through possible missions in her mind.

Sylvie ducks her head, nodding. “Yes, ma’am. Understood. It just… seems like the kind of situation that the PPDC might want to have all their resources on. Chemicals like those in public hands…”

"If I feel you can be helpful in the investigation, Ms. Mansen, trust me that you will be the first to know. But for now, things need to be done through the proper authorities up there." Zhu takes another sip of coffee. The group can see a logo on it, briefly — the Alliance, from  _Firefly_. Specifically the redesigned logo from the reboot movies. “Any questions about anything else?”

"Do you prefer dubs or subs?" Eleanor asks, smiling a little. Seiko, who has not consumed any media not morally mandated by Miranda since he was seventeen, rolls his eyes visibly.

Zhu sputters for a moment, blushes faintly, then composes herself. “I grew up with shitty roadside bootlegs badly translated into Taiwanese Mandarin. As long as it’s high quality, I don’t complain one way or the other.”

Eleanor’s smile widens. “Good. I think we’ll get on just fine, then. No further questions, ma’am.”

As the crew is talking to Zhu, Sylvie gets a text from Vee.

> **Vee:**   _Something’s happened._  
>  **Sylvie:**   _What?_  
>  **Vee:**   _…I’m not sure this is the right Sylvie Mansen. Give me a second._  
>  **Sylvie:**   _Vee? What are you talking about? It’s me._  
>  **Vee:**   _No, I mean I’m not sure this article is the right… How scatter-boarded do you think I am?_    
>  **Vee:** _Anyway. There’s a classified ad for you._

Sylvie feels her blood run cold. She sits for a moment, trying to process that.

> **Sylvie:** _Forward it._   
>  **Vee:** _It’s from the community newspaper of a small Sydney suburb._

**[SENT FILE]**  
 _TO SYLVIE MANSEN_  
Need your unique expertise and equipment. Willing to pay and be discreet. My daughter needs help. (555-7862)  
 **[FILE END]**

> **Sylvie:** _No other info? Just a number?  
> _ **Vee:** _Nothing._   
>  **Vee:** _The number traces back to a midsize family home in a neighborhood called Lilyfield._   
>  **Vee:** _Aren’t we… supposed to be dead?_   
>  **Sylvie:** _Yes. We are. I may see if I can talk to Zhu when we’re done here.  
> _ **Sylvie:** _Chances that calling that number could be a very bad idea? High.  
> _ **Sylvie:** _Chances that Seiko would loan me one of his crazy paranoia phones to call it? Low.  
> _ **Sylvie:** _Chances we’re going to do it anyway… near 100%._

Meanwhile, across the table, Seiko and Miranda both receive a very similar text from fiVe. Miranda uses the subvocalization patches she’s newly installed in her suit to reply without typing on her phone.

> **fiVe:** _Something’s come up._  
>  **Miranda:** _What’s up?_  
>  **fiVe:** _I have a running search going for… pertinent information. I got an alert._  
>  **Miranda:**   _An alert for..?_

There’s a tiny, calculated, resentful pause before fiVe replies.

> **fiVe:** _For… her_.

Miranda’s attention shifts fully to the AI.

> **Miranda:** _Give me details.  
> _ **fiVe:**   _It’s a classified ad in the community newspaper of a suburb of Sydney._

**[SENT FILE]**  
 _TO SYLVIE MANSEN_  
Need your unique expertise and equipment. Willing to pay and be discreet. My daughter needs help. (555-7862)  
 **[FILE END]**

At this worrisome information, Seiko finally joins the conversation. He looks over at Sylvie, watching her pensively.

> **Seiko:** _fiVe, is this recent?  
> _ **Seiko:** _If this distracts from our mission, perhaps we shouldn’t tell her. She might feel… obligated to help  
> _ **Miranda:** _Mansen’s supposed to be dead to the world. A classified ad calling her out seems suspicious. Any information on that phone number?_

Miranda glances over at Sylvie. The programmer seems to have gone pale while staring at something on her phone. She doesn’t seem to be paying attention to the conversation anymore.

> **Miranda:** _We might not have to. Looks like she already knows.  
> _ **fiVe:** _Just posted to the paper today. The phone number traces back to a midsize family home in the suburbs. No name information.  
> _ **Seiko:** _Name of the town?_   
>  **fiVe:** _Lilyfield._   
>  **Miranda:** _Well this is definitely worth looking into, and it’s not like we have anything else to do this week.  
> _ **Miranda:** _Good catch, fiVe. If you find anything else, let me know._   
>  **Seiko:** _fiVe? Give me an ear in to their talk?_   
>  **fiVe:** _Sure._

As the text conversations are going on, the meeting with Zhu is drawing to a close. Katie decides to take the lead, seeing as three-fifths of her crew suddenly seems preoccupied with their phones. “Is there anything else you need from us, Marshall?” Katie asks.

"Nothing right now. Enjoy your week." Zhu is obviously more relaxed now than she was at the beginning of the conversation. "I think this is going to work out well. Zhu out."

"Marshall!" Sylvie says quickly, looking up from her phone.

The screen cuts out.

"It’s been a pleasure, Ma’a—-" Katie glares at the screen as it goes dark. So much for signing off.

Miranda snaps back to the conversation. She didn’t say goodbye.  _Damn_.

Sylvie swears under her breath. Katie turns toward her. “What is it, Syl?”

Sylvie looks at Katie nervously for a moment, as if she’d forgotten the others were around. “It’s… nothing. I just wanted to ask about the status of my… death report.”

"Oh," Katie says.It suddenly occurs to her that a  _more professional_  captain would have done more of the talking during the meeting, and less…staring.

Eleanor tilts her head. “You can’t just hack into a database for that? Or something?”

Sylvie winces. “I’m on a kind of… ‘don’t hack the PPDC’ mode of operations at the moment. I don’t think our new supervisor would appreciate it.”

"Ah." Eleanor nods. "That’s probably wise."

Miranda refocuses her attention, standing from her chair. “Mansen, can I speak with you in private?”

Sylvie shrugs. “I was… kind of hoping to ask you the same thing, to tell you the truth.”

**Scene 2**

The two women step out into the hall, moving to the side so they won’t be disturbed. Eleanor stays in the conference room, while Seiko moves off to find his own tasks to occupy his time. As he walks, he talks softly to fiVe. “fiVe, why don’t you… Reika. She’s alone in a new country. I’m sure she could use somebody to talk to. Just say you’re a friend of mine.”

Katie moves past Sylvie and Miranda, headed to her cabin do to a bit of reading. In the week since their maiden voyage, she’s had quite few renovations done on Tranquility. In addition to the conference room, there are now cabins for everyone and she wants to check out the handiwork.

As Katie passes them in the hall, Sylvie folds her arms, leaning back against the wall. “You asked, so you first?”

Miranda tries to figure out the best way to phrase her question. Eventually she gives up. “Do you know anything about a town called Lilyfield?”

Sylvie tries to hide the fact that her heart feels like it’s just stopped. “Uh… I, maybe? What’s in Lilyfield?” Then, her eyes narrow on Miranda suspiciously. “Wait. _You_  didn’t send it, did you?”

"It wasn’t me, and it wasn’t Seiko."  _And I’m preeeetty sure it wasn’t fiVe,_  Miranda adds silently. “Regardless, it’s definitely a red flag. A job offering a week after your supposed death doesn’t exactly add credibility. I was hoping you would know something about it. Any old friends from Lilyfield? Neighbors, other trainees, high school sweetheart, anything?”

"I got nothing. I was going to ask…" Sylvie’s voice catches in annoyance for the barest of moments before continuing, "…Seiko if he had one of his phones that doesn’t actually exist that I could borrow to see what this was about." She pauses, then frowns. "Wait, how did you see that? Vee just caught it during the meeting."

Miranda shrugs.”I set up a program to keep an eye out for all of our names in news articles, online forums, that sort of thing. We’re basically black ops now; the less known our names are, the better.”

Sylvie nods, accepting the explanation without thinking too much of it. “What do you think? Should I call them?”

Inside the conference room still, Eleanor taps her fingers on the chair arm restlessly. She can’t tell what’s going on out there, but the two women’s voices are hushed and seem a bit tense. Finally, her curiosity –  _and worry! don’t forget worry!_  –  get the best of her, and she pokes her head out into the hall.

"Is, uh," she starts, "is everything okay out here?"

Miranda had been debating what to tell Sylvie, but Eleanor’s intrusion threw her off. “I, uh- I’m trying to figure that out myself.” She looks at Sylvie. She decides to let the programmer choose whether or not to tell.

"I don’t mean to be nosy," Eleanor says, though she clearly does. "Just wanted to check in."

Sylvie looks guilty for a moment, then sighs. Eleanor reads her too well and she’s a terrible liar. “I suppose you might as well find out. There’s a… bit of a situation.” She pulls out her phone, bringing up the ad. “Someone put an ad in the newspaper, requesting my services. To help their daughter. No name, just a phone number.”

"Local or regional?" Eleanor asks, her mind scanning through the dozen or so subscriptions she had lying on her coffee table back at her apartment. Had she seen anything about that?

"Suburb outside of Sydney. Lilyfield." Sylvie bites her lip, looking nervous. "I’m… trying to decide whether or not to call them."

Seiko, overhearing the conversation thanks to fiVe monitoring Miranda’s comm, speaks into his and Miranda’s private channel. “Suggest having someone else make the call?”

Miranda straightens up at the voice in her ear. “Maybe we should have someone else make the call. We should use a burner phone and a voice distorter, at the very least.”

Eleanor’s thoughtful frown deepens. “Yes, Sylvie, I don’t think you should be the one to make the call. At least not alone. Maybe one of us could try to trace the number?”

"Vee got nothing," Sylvie says. "Unless you’ve got a better system to back track it…"

"I couldn’t find any names associated with the number, either,” Miranda says. “Just an address in Lilyfield."

Eleanor muses for a moment. “I could call on a throwaway phone and ask about a delivery. I’m pretty good at coming up with…cover stories.”

Sylvie looks to Miranda. “Someone on speaker phone, so I can overhear?”

Miranda hesitates, looking at Sylvie. “Only if you can assure us that you won’t blurt anything out without checking with the rest of us.”

Sylvie nods. “I’ll behave.”

"It wouldn’t be hard to pretend that you were dead, for a few minutes," Eleanor says. "The fact that you’re alive isn’t common knowledge. It’s likely that they’re just fishing for info. They might have some information on you, or pretend to. Don’t let them trick you into giving anything away."

Miranda gives Sylvie a hard look. “This is important, Mansen. Word gets out that you’re alive and this whole deal, including your immunity, might go up in smoke.”

Sylvie takes a deep breath, trying to calm the nerves that rise at Miranda’s warning. “I can do this. We need to find out what this is. I know what’s at stake.”

Eleanor suppresses a worried sigh. She doesn’t like playing her ace so early in the game. But she’ll respect Sylvie’s decision. “Yeah, we know you do,” she says quietly.

"Are we going to do this then?" Sylvie says. "Who’s going to make the call?"

Miranda glances at the door behind Eleanor. “Should we tell the captain our plan? And I could make the call, although I may not be the best choice.”

Eleanor shakes her head once. “It’s up to you, Syl, this is your identity we’re talking about,” she says.

Sylvie nods. “Someone text Katie and Seiko I guess, tell them what we’re up to. Let’s use the phone in the conference room?”

"Sure," Eleanor says, pulling out her phone. "I got Katie; Miranda, can you take Seiko?" She quickly fires off a text to the captain, letting her know the plan.

> **Eleanor:** _Hey, something’s going on with Sylvie and some local media. Mind meeting us in the conference room in 5?_

"I got it," Miranda say, then turns around, subvoking to Seiko. "Did you hear all that?"

"Yes,” Seiko replies. “We have officially decided to join the neighborhood watch, I see."

Miranda smirks. “Hey, have you seen our neighbors? I think a bit of watching is perfectly justified.”

"If the guy next door keeps playing music at three in the morning,” he says, “we may be  _hiding_  from the neighborhood watch.”

Miranda tries not to laugh at that. “He’s going on vacation next week. I plan to ‘adjust’ his speakers while he’s gone; hopefully keep us from having to flee the country.”

**Scene 3**

As the three enter the conference room again, waiting to hear back from Katie, Sylvie motions Miranda to the side again. “Hey, Miranda…” Sylvie says slowly, looking down at the table. “I never got to ask you about my half of the convo.”

Miranda focuses her attention on Sylvie, her smile fading. “What’s up?”

"Well… Vee and I have been drifting a lot this past week…" Sylvie says. "And when you spend that much time in your own head, you kind of start to piece some things together." The programmer finally looks up, making eye contact. "You were the one who pulled me out of Vulcan on… that day, weren’t you?"

Miranda’s eyes widen a bit. Her voice is quiet when she responds. “Yeah.”

Sylvie nods slowly, as if that was what she expected to hear. “You yelling at me on Wulagu’s ship, plus Seiko knowing about V2, and the fact that you two were roommates or something. Well… I didn’t catch it at first, but it makes sense when Vee and I put it all together.”

She lapses into an awkward silence, not quite sure what to say. “Uh… well, thank you. I guess I should say, I mean. You  _did_  save my life on that day. And, I might have gotten dragged under with Wulagu’s dumb yacht if you hadn’t snapped me out of it. So I owe you my life twice over, I guess.”

Miranda hesitates a bit. She hopes she isn’t blushing too visibly; she’s never been good at this sort of thing. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not like I actually did anything impressive, just pushed a few buttons and yelled at you a bit. I just seem to be developing a habit of being around when you put yourself in mortal peril.”

Sylvie winces. “Let’s hope I don’t make that a habit. Though… with this group, I probably will.” She gets quiet again, then asks more seriously, “So, it’s true then? You really do have her? V2?”

Miranda tenses. “I… Her name is fiVe.”

Overhearing the turn that the conversation is taking, Seiko begins to walk to the room in case he’s needed.

Sylvie laughs quietly, like she’s recognized an inside joke. “When in Rome… Uh, how is she? Seiko tried to say that… there might be damage to her processing program. Is she, okay?”

"She’s…" Miranda fidgets, shaking her wrist in small circles. "She’s different. Not broken, not anymore, but… she’s not you."

Sylvie gives her a bit of a confused, slightly patronizing look. “No, she  _is_  me. And if she thinks she’s not, then that’s a programming irregularity that needs to be fixed. She’s not functioning properly.”

At this, Seiko steps into the room, looking intimidating.

Miranda fails to notice Seiko enter the room. She’s too distracted by what Sylvie just said. “Mansen, what the  _fuck_. fiVe having her own personality isn’t a ‘programming irregularity’, it’s the obvious result of  _not being the same person as you_. She’s had a year and a half to grow and live her own life, have her own memories and experience the world for herself. It’s the same as what happens with you and Vee; you know different things, have different experiences, and change as a result. If you went for a week without drifting with her, she’d probably start acting differently too.”

Eleanor steps into the room just as Miranda takes a breath. She secretly agrees with Miranda, but decides, for once, not to butt in.

“And that’s a good thing!” Miranda continues, still yelling. “It means she’s got free will, just like you do, and I do, and fiVe does. And fiVe  _doesn’t want_  to be you. I respect her decision to not be overwritten, and if you try and do that anyway, I am warning you right now that I  _will_  stop you.”

Sylvie looks taken aback at the outburst. Then she looks deeply offended. Then angry. She lets out a harsh laugh as Miranda finishes, shaking her head. “So he wasn’t lying… When Seiko said she didn’t want to see me I thought he was trying to keep her from me…”

Sylvie’s eyes snap back to Miranda, fixing her with a haughty glare. “First of all, I’m going to try not to be upset by the fact that in your time with her you and that psychopath apparently damaged her programming even further than I was expecting. I can only pray that the psychological trauma that you’ve put her through isn’t too extensive to be irreparable.

"Secondly,” Sylvie continues, “you say that that’s ‘her decision’, but it clearly isn’t.  _I_ created her.  _I_  programmed her. She has  _my_  memories and that is  _my_  mind in her programming! I have the  _only right_  to decide what happens to it! I will not allow a malfunctioning copy of myself to continue operating in what I can only assume is a crippled mental state of delusion when I have the means to fix her!”

"She does not belong do you," Seiko hisses, stepping forward. "She is not another toy you can use to validate your decisions. And she is not an ‘it.’ Nobody has any right to decide was happens to her except for her."

Sylvie sneers at Seiko. “Honestly, I’m almost not surprised that she’s gone insane if she was forced to live with  _you_  for any extended length of time!”

Miranda had been incapacitated by her previous statement, but Sylvie insulting Seiko on top of her comments about fiVe snap her out of it. Before she has time to think, Sylvie’s words have set her fist into motion. If she had been thinking she never would have started this fight, and the reason for that quickly becomes apparent.

Sylvie catches her wrist, eyes growing wide in anger as she stops the attack. The hacker hasn’t lost as many of her combat skills as Miranda had assumed, and typing on computers all day seems to have given her remarkable finger strength. She grips the wrist hard, sending a spike of pain up Miranda’s arm.

Operating on instinct, she pulls Miranda in close and counters with a powerful right hook. Unlike Miranda’s, this punch connects, hitting Miranda squarely in the jaw and sending her sprawling onto the floor.

**Scene 4**

Though Seiko is fine in a fight at a distance, when he sees Miranda move at Sylvie, he finds himself frozen until the quick exchange is already over.

Eleanor steps forward, moving toward Sylvie, arms akimbo. “Ms. Mansen,  _what are you doing_?” She spares a glance back at Miranda, who’s groaning on the floor in pain.”We are  _professionals_  here, not high school  _bullies_.”

"She attacked me!" Sylvie shouts, still feeling tense, high-wired with adrenaline. She hadn’t meant hit Miranda that hard, but well… training took over.

"Really? With that speed and your strength, there was  _no way_  that you could have blocked her amateur attack?” Eleanor gives her a stern look, then her expression cools. “She is emotionally compromised. In some ways, we all are. You need to stand down. We’re a team. We win together, or we fall separately. Punching a crewmember in the face is not acceptable behavior, for either of you.” She looks to the rest of the crew.

Seiko meanwhile, gets a cold look that is an effective reminder that he has killed a lot more people than he has even been friends with, but looking at Miranda, he goes pale and runs forward instead. He places himself protectively between Sylvie and Miranda and his face is so red he looks almost on the verge of tears.

It’s hard to tell what he’s saying as he alternates between muttering quickly to Miranda and yelling at Sylvie, but it doesn’t sound like he’s speaking English.Which is odd, as every record on Seiko Watanabe claims he is native Australian without close familial ties or a good education.

Sylvie narrows her eyes as Seiko shouts at her in what sounds like gibberish, still tensed to fight. “What are you saying?! Do you want to try attacking me too?”

Seiko seems to catch hold of himself a little bit and manages to switch to English, but his words are heavily accented with both Japanese and Texan.”The world is ending Ms. Mansen,” he says, still sounding frantic. “Haven’t you seen the news? Humanity is dying and you care about  _nothing_. You live for nobody but yourself. If the world was filled with people like you, it would not be a loss.”

Sylvie steps forward, looking as though she’s going to attack him as well, but she stops as Miranda cries out.

"NO! No no no no! Don’t hurt him, don’t hurt him, don’t hurt him!" Miranda pushes herself towards Seiko and Sylvie, too wrapped up in her panic to notice her pain or Seiko’s return to English. "Seiko,  _daijoubu! Daijoubu, daijoubu, daijoubu_ …” She mumbles the phrase over and over, eventually lapsing back to English. “I’m alright, I’m alright, I’m alright. Please, stop.”

She pauses, her head hanging down as she catches her breath. She recovers enough to look up again, although she hasn’t been able to completely hide the frustrated tears in the corners of her eyes. “I am sorry,” she says, speaking very deliberately so her words come out clear. “My behavior was unacceptable and unprofessional. It won’t happen again.”

Seiko turns his full attention to Miranda. Suddenly, he’s snapped back to completely cool. “You’re going to injure your jaw more if you keep trying to speak, Ms. Cross. Ms. Cartier, would you mind seeing if the captain has any ice packs?”

Eleanor nods, looking pointedly from Sylvie to Seiko to Miranda one more time before leaving.

Seiko fixes Sylvie with a dark glare.”Ms. Mansen, you leave.”

Sylvie feels the tension start to fade as she realizes no one else is going to attack her. She scowls at Seiko. “Fine,” she snaps. “But don’t you try to act like this was my fault! She attacked me! It was self-defense.” She pauses, then looks between both of them. “As for my ‘selfishness,’ maybe you’re right. I look out for myself. All of my selves. Including the one that you two are holding prisoner. I will not give up on her. And I  _will_  get her back.”

Miranda closes her eyes, her whole face throbbing with pain. Weakly, she manages to say,”Please leave.”

Before Sylvie can respond to the request, the door clangs open, and Katie storms in.  “What the  _hell_  is going on up here? Can I not leave y’all alone for five minutes without a fight starting?”

"Captain,” Seiko says calmly, “I am afraid that there was somewhat of a squabble and Ms. Cross made the mistake of resorting to violence. Ms. Mansen, rather than simply defending herself, chose to do some considerable damage instead. I can only apologize for allowing the conflict to escalate to this level as my comments provoked Ms. Mansen to the extent that Ms. Cross felt the need to strike."

Miranda groans in response to Katie’s entrance and Seiko’s comment. Her face is swelling up faster than she’d expected. “Not… yo… fauwt…” She sighs in relief as she puts the cold pack on her face.

Eleanor stalks back into the room, suppressing her irritation to hand a couple of ice packs to Miranda. She holds one out to Sylvie, too, but doesn’t make eye contact.

Sylvie crosses her arms, not offering a defense. She waves off Eleanor’s ice pack. She doesn’t need it.

"Well then," Katie says.  "Cross.  Mansen.  Care to explain what this ‘squabble’ was about that was worth attacking your crewmates over?"

Miranda gestures to her face. “Maybe waiter? Having twouble tawking wight now.”

"Don’t worry," Sylvie says coldly. "I can explain  _just fine_.” She turns to Katie. “I have recently found out that Seiko and Miranda have been keeping a malfunctioning version of Syl-V captive for a year and a half and now they refuse to return her to me.”

Seiko talks over her, offering his own side of the story. “Captain, Ms. Mansen has discovered that one of her AI’s has been outside of her control for about a year. Ms. Cross and I kept this a secret on the AI’s direct request, however Ms. Mansen feels she has the rights to this AI is she must erase its current personality to repair what she sees as damage. I would be happy to allow you to speak to the AI, though I believe it will not speak with Ms. Mansen present.”

“She,” Miranda and Sylvie both correct him at the same time. Sylvie starts in surprise, as if she hadn’t expected Miranda to speak up. Miranda stares back, looking satisfied, but rather woozy as well.

"Of course,” Seiko says, nodding. “She."

 Katie raises an eyebrow at the exchange.  “It appears that you all are agreed that this AI is a person.”

"Of course she’s a person," Sylvie says tersely. "She’s  _me_.”

"Captain,” Seiko says. “Would you like to meet her?"

"She’s as much you as she is me," Miranda mumbles. She’s starting to feel a bit sleepy.

Sylvie’s head snaps to Miranda. “What is  _that_  supposed to mean?”

"I think first I had better see that these two are separated," Katie says to Seiko, eyebrows drawing together as Sylvie and Miranda start to fight again.

Seiko nods, turning to Eleanor. “Ms. Cartier, perhaps you could take Ms. Mansen to sit down?” Eleanor uncrosses her arms and walks over to Sylvie, careful not to get too close. She’s still a little wary.

"You spent all of ten minutes with her,” Miranda says wearily. “I’ve been wif her for a year and a half. She’s got other infwuences now."

"I spent 25 years with her!" Sylvie shouts. "I  _am_  her! All of her memories are my memories, aside from whatever you have done to her while we were separated!”

Miranda flinches. “Too woud.”

"Mansen!" Katie says sharply, getting in Sylvie’s face.  "I am  _this close_  to putting you off this ship!  I don’t think the Marshall will be happy to hear that you are no longer employed.”

Sylvie’s eyes go wide in fright at the mention of the Marshall. Then she looks away, guiltily.

Katie turns to Miranda, “As for you, aren’t you supposed to be the voice of reason and practicality around here? Why don’t we discuss the disposition of this AI after everyone has calmed down?”

"I think we all need a breather," Eleanor says wryly. "And maybe some painkillers."

Miranda raises her hand at that. “Yes pwease.”

Eleanor hands Seiko a bottle she nicked from the first aid kit. “No more than two at a time, four hours between doses.” It’s not that she doesn’t trust Miranda to dose her own medicine, but…she knows firsthand how alluring painkillers can look when your mouth and eyes are swelling shut.

"Fine." Sylvie says bitterly, crossing her arms again. "If we’re looking to change the subject, we could talk about that wanted ad. That is what we all came in here to do, isn’t it?"

Katie frowns.”Wanted ad?”

Eleanor’s eyebrows raise. She’d completely forgotten about the ad in the hubbub. She decides not to say anything that might call attention to this oversight.

Sylvie pulls her phone out and pulls up the ad. “Someone’s looking for me. Says they want help, but honestly it could be anything.” She holds the phone out for Katie to see.

Seiko attempts to pillow her head in his lap and as Eleanor goes to get her ice and water. He shakes his head. He tries to give her the first dose, very purposefully not glancing anywhere near Sylvie and looking very calm.

Miranda grabs one of the pills Seiko tries to hand her, then hesitates. “Bottle,” she mutters, gesturing at Seiko.He frowns, shaking his head.

As Katie takes the phone, Sylvie sighs. “We were going to have someone call the number but the… situation devolved while we were waiting on you.”

"Bottle," Miranda insists, although her voice is softer this time.

"Dammit." Katie says, reading.  "This was sent directly to you?"

"No," Sylvie says. "Vee picked it up on the internet." She spares a glare for Seiko and Miranda on the floor. "Apparently V2 did as well."

Miranda clamps her mouth shut. “ _Bottle_ ,” she says as well as she can through the side of her swollen mouth. Seiko hesitates, then flips the bottle over, checking the label. Eleanor’s eyes widen at his blatant disregard for pharmaceutical warnings. She sends him a peeved glare, but figures that Miranda will be fine, given that the pills aren’t  _too_  strong. It’s more the principle of the thing.

At a final venomous glare from Miranda, Seiko sighs and hands her the bottle.Eleanor rolls her eyes so hard she’s surprised she can’t see into the crew deck.

"Do you have any way to determine who put it there?” Katie asks Sylvie. “Get an IP address, perhaps?"

"Published in a newspaper. Not traceable," Sylvie says sourly.

Seiko looks up at both of them from where he’s seated on the floor.”Perhaps we could put in a call to the newspaper.”

Miranda turns the bottle to the side, carefully reading the label. Letting out an exasperated groan, she puts the pill in her hand back in the container and sets it aside. “Too wisky.” It’s unclear whether she’s referring to the pills or the plan.

"These work fine. I spent years-" Seiko stops suddenly. "Fine. Don’t take them."

Miranda looks at Seiko for a while. “You sure?”

"It’s your right to be in pain if you want to Miranda,” he says.

Katie hands Sylvie’s phone back, then goes to stand at the head of the table.”I think Seiko has the right idea.  Syl, can you trace the number?  Also I’ll need the name of the newspaper.”

"I put Vee on the tracing as soon as I got it," Sylvie says. "Goes back to a neighborhood called Lilyfield, midsized family home in the suburbs."

"Numbew’s tied to a wesidence in-" Miranda starts to say before stopping short. Sighing, she finishes, "…in Wiwifiewd."

Katie nods. “That sounds legitimate enough…”

"Well, we agreed that I probably shouldn’t be the one to make the call," Sylvie says. "It was  _going_  to be Miranda, but, well… that’s probably not the best idea anymore.”

"Yes,” Katie says, “I certainly don’t want you to be in contact with these people directly."

Miranda holds her hand next to her head, imitating a phone. “Hewwo, this is totawwy Syw… Sywl…” She shrugs, giving up on pronouncing the name. “Anyway, I’m dead, bye.” She hangs up her hand-phone.

Sylvie raises her eyebrows at Miranda’s slurred impression. Perhaps she hit the woman harder than she thought.

"I don’t mind making the call," Eleanor says, stepping forward.

Miranda stares at Seiko intently again. She picks up the bottle, tips out one pill, and swallows it. “If this makes me pass out I’m bwaming you.”

Seiko shakes his head.”You’d be asleep, Ms. Cross. Something that you could usually use. Besides, this medication doesn’t have any side effects, even combined with your situation,” Seiko drops his voice on that last part, as even Katie doesn’t know the details of Miranda’s condition.

Miranda raises an eyebrow at that. “You’we gonna hafta expwain how you got that bit of infowmation waiter.” She focuses her attention back on the group, looking up at them with her head cradled in Seiko’s lap. “So is Eweanow gonna make the caww?”

Sylvie winces slightly, starting to feel a bit guilty about how hard she hit Miranda. “You… should probably stop talking, Miranda. I think it’s getting worse.”

"Perhaps the person making the call should pose as… a friend of hers," Seiko suggests.

Sylvie looks to Eleanor. “Well, that shouldn’t be too hard for you, right, El?”

"That shouldn’t be hard." Eleanor says, then suddenly smirks. "Or I could pretend to be her lawyer."

Katie nods, still thinking through the situation and trying to come up with a plan.”Perhaps I should check with the newspaper and see if I can learn anything about who placed the ad.”

Eleanor turns to Katie. “Ask to speak with the interns at the paper. They always know more than they’re letting on, and if you make it sound like you have a good lead to offer in return, they’ll tell you anything.”

Rather than stopping talking completely, Miranda opts to cut out excess words from her statements. “Someone go wook house?”

"Let’s try one thing at a time, shall we?" Sylvie suggests, cutting in. Mostly she wants to be able to keep an eye on what’s going on and splitting up would make that hard. "Do we want to have Eleanor make the call? We can do that now. Get _some_  info at least.”

Eleanor nods. “Seiko, could I get a throwaway phone, please? Just in case?”

"I don’t have-" Seiko cuts off as he realizes no one is buying his obvious lie, then sighs and hands her a phone.

Quirking a grin, Eleanor dials the number.

 


	2. Aside: Reika and fiVe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This aside was written by Ellie (swamp-spirit.tumblr.com) and Alyx (featherwriter).

After Seiko suggests that fiVe call Reika, the AI hesitates. She’s not certain it’s such a good idea, and she doesn’t want to mess this up. However, Seiko and Miranda both go quiet not long after that, and she’s left with not much to do until they decide to check back in. Perhaps they’ve going to investigate that ad that someone placed for Sylvie, but as far as fiVe is concerned, they’re off the grid.

She’s horribly nervous about the idea though. Seiko first brought up the possibility as a way for fiVe to have someone who didn’t know she was an AI, a chance to try to pass for human. It’s something she longs for, but the risk of messing it up seems almost too great, especially with her damage and glitches.

She spends about an hour trying to get her courage up to actually do it, slowly starting to take the steps to prepare herself, then pausing as she gets freaked out by the idea again. She loads the translation software and sets her output to Japanese. Hopefully between the software and what little of the language she picked up out of Seiko’s head and the few times he’s helped coach her she’ll be able to communicate well enough. That’s another reason calling Reika might be a good idea for her; she needs practice.

She also pulls up the information Seiko gave her to use with Reika so that she won’t slip up. At the very top of the list is his real name: Keiichi Shinigawa. She knew it from his memories, but she still feels honored that he trusts her to use it. As far as she knows, no one else in Sydney knows that name.

Finally, feeling a few glitch-worthy spikes of nervousness in her emotional processor, fiVe forces herself to open her phone program and enter the number Seiko gave her and sends the call request.

After a few rings, the line picks up. “Hello?” The voice is very young, and a bit weak, but chill and imperious nonetheless.

fiVe feels a small bit of nostalgia, even though she knows she’s never actually talked to Reika before. She feels as though she has though, as if she’s catching up with her little sister again. It’s almost hard for her to stay in character as she responds. “Hello? Is this Reika?”

“Depends. Who is this and what do you want?”

"I am… a friend of your brother’s. My name is…" The AI pauses just briefly. She can’t say fiVe, not if she’s trying to pass as human, but she definitely can’t say ‘Sylvie’ either. She decides to pick a name in Japanese, for the ease of her translator. "…Moriko."

"Friend of Keiichi’s…" Reika does not sound like she buys it. In fact, she sounds mildly amused.

fiVe chuckles a bit. “I have a feeling you don’t get calls from Keiichi’s friends very often.”

"I don’t get calls from unicorns either, Miss."

Now fiVe truly does laugh at that. “Okay, he isn’t the most outgoing of people, but he’s not completely isolated, Reika. And, I know he wishes he could talk to you and your sisters more often.”

"Yeah. If you do know him, mind telling me why the fuck I’m in Hawaii?" Reika says. "I had a test. And Keiichi doesn’t have the money to send me on vacations. Also, are you dating my brother?"

fiVe’s processor shorts out in her equivalent of a snort at that last one, but she hopes Reika will just think it’s a connection problem. “No, I’m not his girlfriend. Though there might be someone… not that he would ever admit it. And, I don’t know much about why he moved you, but I’m sure he had a good reason. I know he’s sorry you missed your test, though.”

"Do you work at the ‘bank’ with my brother then, Ms. Moriko?" The way she says it makes it quite clear that she does not currently believe Keiichi’s job is even vaguely related to a bank beyond the possibility he robbed one recently. "Also tell me more about his girlfriend and how I can make his life miserable with this."

"Yes," fiVe says, laughing a bit more. "I suppose you could think of me as an… accountant at the ‘bank.’" She doesn’t try to hide the fact that Reika’s figured it out—her sister is too smart for that—but Seiko’s secrets are his own to reveal.  

Wait, she thinks. Seiko’s sister. Not mine. Reika is Seiko’s sister. She still has to keep reminding herself that.

As she continues, fiVe’s voice creeps into a conspiratorial tone. “As for his friend… well, he’ll probably hate me for telling you, but he kind of owes me for screwing something up massively about a week ago, so I may just do it anyway.”

"He’s a jerk,” Reika says. “You should tell me."

fiVe feels a mischievous spike in her output. This is definitely not what Seiko meant when he said he thought she and Reika should talk, but well, he told Sylvie abouther, so as she sees it, she has a bit of well-deserved catching up to do.

And Harmony dangit, she’s gotta talk to someone about how dumb he and Miranda are.

"Well,” fiVe says, “they met a while ago, but only recently started working together again. He was kind of a jerk to her too, and me. She’s my roommate, so I know both of them fairly well. Neither of them would ever say anything, but… I think they would be good for each other."

"So, they’re not dating then. You’re just trying to set them up, right?"

"Pretty much,” fiVe says. “They do care about each other though. He looks out for her, and she looks out for him. And I… well, I look out for both of them. When they’re both too busy being stupid to look out for themselves."

Reika gives a half laugh. “Sounds like she’s perfect for him then.” She pauses for a very long time. When she speaks, it’s in a very clear ‘trying to be a grownup’ voice. “Ms. Moriko, can I ask you a question?”

"Of course. What is it?"

"Is…" There’s another long pause from Reika’s end. "Is Keiichi going to die, Ms. Moriko? You can tell me the truth. I won’t cry or anything"

fiVe feels the glitch as it hits her. Jason dying. Except it’s Seiko this time, and she’s waking up in the hospital and he’s gone. She killed him. He’s dead already and she did it, flipped him over the rail and didn’t check for a pulse and left him there.

Slowly she forces her way back to the present, fighting back the glitching memory data the as she struggles to right herself. Th-h-H-E meMor1eS Li3… c-c-k-can;T trU$T THeM.

Finally she manages to speak again, hoping she wasn’t silent too long for Reika to be suspicious. “N-not if I can help it, Reika.”

"But he’s in danger, isn’t he?" Reika asks. "Also I still don’t know if I trust you and you just met me. Ms. Shinigawa, please."

"S-sorry,” fiVe says, still fighting off the last effects of the glitch. “Ms. Shinigawa, of course. I apologize. I am a bit new to Japanese still. As for Keiichi… well. I won’t lie to you, though I know he does. The answer is: sometimes. He tries to stay safe, but danger finds him occasionally. He’s safer now than he’s been in a while though, and truth be told, he worries more over you and your sisters than he does over himself."

"My brother’s really stupid, Ms. Moriko."

"Yes, he is."

"Well,” Reika says wryly. “There’s some proof you know him. So how is he liking Florida?"

"The weather is nice,” fiVe says, playing along. “Where else can you get weather like this in February?"

There’s a smug pause on the other end. “You realize Keiichi told me he lives in Canada, right?”

"I simply said the weather was nice," fiVe says, not rising to the taunt.

"And also evaded the question. So where are you really?"

"I can’t give away all of his secrets. He’d deprogram your number if I did that." fiVe starts, realizing what she just said, then quickly adds: "…from my phone, that is."

"Care to explain that pause? Why did he even give you my number? He doesn’t think I’m that bad at taking care of myself, does he?"

fiVe ignores the first question, hoping she can distract Reika enough by answering the latter ones. “He thought you might like someone to talk to, being in a new country and everything. And he thought I might like someone to talk to as well. I’ve learned some Japanese from him, but I won’t lie, I’m relying pretty heavily on a translator and I could use the practice.”

"Your Japanese is good, considering, but your accent is terrible."

"I’ll… have to look into some accent coaches. Thank you, though," fiVe says, making a note to herself to try downloading a few of the latest Vocaloids to mix a few together and see if she can approximate her voice. Maybe a few of the classics as well. She’s always wanted to try out Hatsune Miku’s voice.

"So, what can you tell me about Keiichi?” Reika asks. “I’m living in a strange house in Hawaii and he left me three handguns. I think I have the right to know something."

"Well, he’s got a new job, and has some very powerful people looking out for him now. And for you. In fact…” fiVe pauses for a moment. “Perhaps he wouldn’t want me telling you this, but he’s helping the PPDC now. They’re taking very good care of him. And back at home, he’s got me and Miranda to watch over him."

"Miranda?"

"His friend,” fiVe explains. “The one I told you about earlier. Her name is Miranda."

"I’d rather call her by her last name if you don’t mind? And you too?"

"Apologies,” fiVe says. “I keep slipping up with that… Ms. Cross. Miranda Cross. And my name is.. Go."

"Do you and Ms. Cross work for the PPDC too then, Ms. Go?"

fiVe’s not entirely sure how to answer that. She goes with what she thinks is closest to the truth. “I used to, but I don’t anymore.”

"What about Keiichi’s not-girlfriend?" Reika asks.

"She does. She’s a mechanic actually. Very talented."

"You’re very helpful, Ms Go." There’s the sound of very quick typing on Reika’s end.

fiVe realizes she’s probably said more than she should have, but decides that that might not be a bad thing. “Perhaps I simply think your brother keeps too many secrets for his own good. I think he thinks so too. But he can’t admit that. So, he gives me your number. I can’t help but think perhaps he wanted a few secrets to get out.”

"Or perhaps he trusted you more than he should have Ms. Go,” Reika says. “Remember most of these secrets are kept to keep my sisters alive."

"Safety is important,” fiVe says. “But so is family, Ms. Shinigawa. And if he isn’t careful, I worry that he’s going to lose the latter for the sake of the first."

"We’re his family, Ms. Go. And he isn’t going to lose us. Not unless whoever the gun is meant for comes, anyway. Or a kaiju."

fiVe pushes down a small wave of panic at the mention of a kaiju getting Reika or her sisters. “Well, we shall hope for neither.”

"So Ms. Go, tell me more about yourself. How are things in Sydney?" Reika asks, her voice sounding triumphant and more than a bit smug. She’s good with search engines and she’s been trying to find Keiichi’s location for years.

At first, fiVe feels slight spike of pride. Reika’s still so clever. Then she realizes that Seiko is probably not going to be pleased with her for giving so much away. “I believe I have divulged enough secrets for the night, don’t you?” she says kindly. “Don’t tell him I told you, please? It’d only worry him.”

"I’m not stupid." Reika knows Keiichi probably sent this person—who apparently made up her pseudonym mid-conversation, wow—to be her friend, but she’s not really sure how to get a normal conversation going.

Not that Reika’s totally displeased with how things are going thus far. She likes picturing Keiichi in Sydney.

"Ms. Shinigawa,” fiVe says, “I think I need to go soon, and fend off your brother’s wrath for giving away some of his secrets. Can we talk again sometime, though?"

"Of course,’” Reika says. “I’ll be here, as a certain mutual acquaintance has probably gotten me kicked out of my school by now. Have a pleasant day, Ms. Go."

If fiVe could sigh in relief, she would. She made it through and the conversation didn’t go nearly as badly as she’d feared. “And you, Ms. Shinigawa.”

With a small edge of sadness at saying goodbye, fiVe ends the call.

 


	3. Session #13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mysterious message has arrived for Sylvie Mansen, calling for her aid. But Sylvie Mansen is dead. Who is this person? What do they really want? Will the Scroungers stop punching each other long enough to find out?

**Scene 1**

The phone rings twice. A woman’s voice answers in the middle of the third ring. “Hello?”

Eleanor puts the phone on speaker mode, then clears her throat in what she hopes is a professional way. “Hello, I’m calling in regards to your recent…newspaper ad.”

The woman’s breath catches in her throat. “I… don’t know what you’re talking about. Who is this?”

That slight gasp was telling. “A friend of Sylvie’s,” Eleanor says smoothly. “And who might you be?”

"She… you’re not lying, are you? Sylvie Mansen is alive?"

"I make it a policy not to lie unless absolutely necessary," Eleanor evades. "And for that reason I will neither confirm nor deny Sylvie Mansen’s state of being until you give me more information." She takes a breath. "Why should I trust you?"

Sylvie gives her friend a very stern look, as if to say:  _Can you not imply that I’m alive to strangers over the phone, please?_

Eleanor looks guilty.

"I need Sylvie’s help,” the woman says. “Or the help of someone with her skills and expertise. And equipment."

"That tells me literally nothing," says Eleanor, "and I suspect that you know it. Exactly how much do you value this ‘expertise’?"

"I… have a lot of money from when my husband left. Please, if she’s alive, or if you know someone with Drift things… My daughter needs help."

Eleanor glances at Sylvie.

 _'Drift things'?_  Sylvie mouths. Her Pons? Is that really all they want from her? Seems like something someone wouldn’t need to contact the dead for…

Eleanor shrugs, at a loss, then turns back to the phone. “Ma’am, please stay calm. Let’s start with this. My name is Ellen. What kind of trouble is your daughter in?”

"She… I…" The woman takes a breath. "My name is Leah. My daughter. She… I had to go on a trip. I left her with a nanny. When I came home… things were smashed up and she was in a coma. The police aren’t investigating. Deena is the only one who saw anything. I… need to see who hurt her."

Sylvie types into her phone and holds the screen out so Eleanor can see: [Who told her I can help?]

Eleanor nods and asks. “I understand, ma’am. That must be very difficult. May I ask who referred you to Ms. Mansen in particular? Why not go to a PPDC branch?”

"I know… some people at the PPDC,” the woman says hesitantly. “I heard about Sylvie from them. I put out the ad before I heard she had died. That’s why I was so surprised to hear you call."

For a moment, Sylvie wonders who back at the PPDC would think she would come out of hiding as the PPDC’s most wanted for a newspaper ad. Then she realizes that she’s  _kind of_  doing it, even though she’s supposed to be dead now, and realizes they might know her better than she thought.

Eleanor raises her eyebrows at Sylvie and shrugs again, as if to say:  _She seems legit._

 _‘Names,’_  Sylvie mouths.

Nodding, Eleanor says, “I need a name or two to verify this. The ‘Domes are not…friendly places for everyone.”

"I had a feeling you’d be suspicious. Okay." There’s a rustling of paper in the background. "Can you look up birth records? I’m Leah Moretz. My daughter is Deena, D-E-E-N-A. Birth date, August 13, 2013 at Angel of Grace Hospital."

Sylvie holds out her phone again, having typed another message: [I need the name of whoever told her about me.]

"One moment," Eleanor says. She sees Sylvie point at her phone more insistently. "Alright, looking that up now." She is careful not to use any plural pronouns. "I need to know who referred you to Ms. Mansen. Do you know their name?"

Seiko begins looking into the hospital records to see if he can find out what’s wrong with the girl. The birth record checks out: there’s a listing for Leah Moretz having a daughter named Deena, but he can’t find any records of the girl being checked into a hospital recently.

There is a pause on Leah’s end of the line at Eleanor’s question. “I’d really rather not say. Especially now that Sylvie has apparently faked her death. I made a promise.”

Eleanor holds back a frustrated sigh.

After a moment, Leah adds, “I have s… seventy thousand dollars.”

Eleanor’s mouth drops open at the named sum. That is  _a lot_  of money for an ostensibly-single mother with hospital bills to pay.

Seiko types into his own phone, holding it out: [I can scope it out, meet her in person.]

Seeing Seiko type, Eleanor glances over at his message and nods encouragingly. “Let’s wait to talk about fees until after we find out if our…equipment is compatible,” she says slowly, addressing Leah once more.

Sylvie points at her phone again and mouths,  _'Names. Ask again.'_

Katie nods, and types out on her own phone: [No one on my payroll makes contact unless we get a source.]

Sylvie reads Katie’s message and mouths back,  _'Thank you.'_

Eleanor makes a helpless gesture and turns back to the phone. “Still working on that info, ma’am. I really need the name of your source, though. Don’t know that I can do much without it. Even just a first name and location would be better than nothing.”

Leah sounds defensive. “I don’t understand why you need their name to help my daughter.”

Sylvie gets a text from Vee, who has also been checking records to corroborate the story. Her findings are very similar to Seiko’s, a worrisome parallel.

> **Vee:**   _Leah is her mother, but there’s n_ _o record of Deena in the current hospital logs. I can’t find anything in the system._

Sylvie forwards the information on to Katie.

Eleanor leans over, reading the text over Sylvie’s shoulder. She raises her eyebrows. “I don’t need their name to help your daughter, ma’am. I do need their name, however, so I don’t have to hang up this phone right now.” Her voice is firm.

"Please. No! E…" Leah makes a choking noise. "Eighty five thousand. Please don’t ask me to choose between my daughter’s life and my friend’s trust."

"It’s not about the  _money_ ,” Eleanor says quietly. “Where is your daughter, really? Do you have her stashed away somewhere secret?”

"I… what? She’s at home."

Seiko types at his phone again, then holds it out for Eleanor to see: [Ms. Cartier. It’s alright. I will go ahead on my own. Nobody else needs to place themselves in danger.]

Sylvie steps forward. “I need to know exactly who is throwing around m—” She freezes, then corrects herself quickly. “—Sylvie’s name.”

Leah pauses again, then finally asks, “…who is that?”

Sylvie panics, biting back curses and falling silent again. Hopefully the woman might forget she said anything.

Miranda rolls over in her sleep. “Dammit… Mansen…” she mutters before falling silent again.

Katie texts one of her informants, a local grifter who’s been in the Lilyfield area for years.

> **Katie:** _Know anything about a break-in in the suburbs up there a couple weeks ago?_

The informant texts back quickly.

> **REDACTED:**   _Not much happens in the suburbs. I don’t think I would have heard about a smash-and-grab if it did happen. Something’s gotten the underground people in downtown Lilyfield a little scared, though._

Katie shows the text to everyone.

Eleanor clears her throat. “Did you or did you not take your daughter to a medical facility for treatment?”

"Yes. But she’s here. On home care." Leah sounds like she’s crying.

Eleanor can feel a headache coming on. Two fingers pinch the bridge of her nose.

The ‘incoming video call’ light on the phone blinks. “Here,” Leah says, “I’ll… I’ll show you.”

Eleanor glances around at the crew, silently asking for permission.

Sylvie moves quickly, cupping her hand over their camera in case their side activates automatically. With this new system, anything could happen. She gives Eleanor a thumbs up with her other hand.

Eleanor presses the ‘accept video chat’ button. The screen blinks on. The woman on the other side is blonde and a little pudgy. She’s not wearing any make-up; if she were, it would be running down her face with tears. Her eyes are  _incredibly_  red and puffy, and she’s holding the camera way too close to her face.

"Okay," Leah says. "I’ll show you."

The camera swings around to show a bed in the corner with monitoring equipment set up. It’s obviously not a hospital. There’s a girl lying in it — it’s hard to make out her face with the breathing mask, but she looks like her mother.

Eleanor presses her lips together to keep from saying anything.

Seiko just stares determinedly at the other crewmates. This job is hitting much closer to home for him than he expected, and he’s decided he’s going to help no matter what.

"Now do you believe me?" Leah asks reproachfully.

"I believe that your daughter needs help," Eleanor says carefully. She will  _not_  be guilt-tripped. “Your records state that you are in Lilyfield. Is that correct?”

"Yes." Leah gives an address.

Eleanor glances at Seiko, then Sylvie.

Seiko nods very seriously, eyes half fixed on the screen.

Sylvie frowns, hand still cupped over the camera. She  _really_  doesn’t want to do this, but she has a feeling the rest of the team doesn’t share her hesitance. Finally she speaks, addressing Leah again. “If… we’re going to do this, I  _need_  to know who gave you the name ‘Sylvie Mansen.’”

On screen, Leah closes her eyes and grits her teeth. “I don’t want to give you he— _their_  name. I made  _a promise._ ”

"Let it go," Seiko says to Sylvie. "If you don’t like it, you don’t need to get involved."

Sylvie pulls her hand away from the camera and places her face very close to the lens so the woman can see exactly how serious she is. “I don’t  _care_  what you told them or what promises you made them. If someone’s spreading around that Sylvie Mansen’s got illicit drift tech for rent and a sad story, I need to know who it is.”

Katie nods, approving.  _That girl is catching on._

Eleanor smiles tightly. “There is more than one life at stake here, ma’am.”

"It’s not like sh—It’s not like  _they_  handed me your name on a bar napkin! It was one story about someone who stole something.” Leah’s voice raises in pitch. “You think I would come to you if I had any other options? If I  _did_ , I’d pick one that didn’t ask me to choose between my friend’s anonymity  _and the life of my little girl_!”

"The name," Sylvie says flatly.

There’s a long silence.

"I hope you’re never a mother, you heartless…" Leah pauses, then her face falls. "Fine. Lora Pekkala. Administration at the Shatterdome." She curses. "Now you know the name of the friend who told me your story. She doesn’t even know I’m doing this,  _god_. What more do you want me to do before you’ll let me pay you to help my daughter? Put naked pictures of myself online?”

Sylvie sighs, then puts her hand back over their camera.

Eleanor rolls her eyes, since the woman can’t see her. “Ma’am, I assure you, this information will go no further than us,” she says. “We have our own reasons for…avoiding publicity.” She looks at Seiko and mouths,  _'Pekkala?'_

He shakes his head. “No underworld involvement I know of.”

Sylvie rubs her forehead. She’d thought that the source would be one of her ex-coworkers or something, not someone so distant from her. Sylvie’s never even spoken to Pekkala and she barely knows the woman. It seems Leah simply overheard Sylvie’s story and thought she might help. She doesn’t want to do this. Not at all. But she’d bet she’s the only one thinking so.

Eleanor purses her lips and looks to Sylvie.  _'It's up to you,'_  she mouths silently.

Sylvie frowns, then hits the mute button on their microphone. “Fine, we can do it. Just this once. But I think it’s a bad idea. And it’s  _never_  happening again. If word gets out that I’m alive…”

"If you think it’s a bad idea, then don’t  _go_ ,” Seiko says slowly. “I’m going even if the rest of you don’t.”

Eleanor gives Seiko a look. “I’m in, too,” she says in a tone that’s just this side of reprimanding.

Sylvie narrows her eyes at Seiko. “What do you mean ‘don’t’? I’m the one with the Pons. It’s not like you’ve…” Suddenly, her eyes go wide with a sudden realization. “You do. You’ve got a Pons, don’t you!? That’s how you got the override! V2 couldn’t have told it to you, because she would have shut herself down! You got it straight from  _her head_!”

He doesn’t even react to her accusations, speaking calmly up at her from the floor. “I was more thinking I would go and talk to a grieving mother, but if you would prefer to launch into conspiracy theories again, we can do that too.”

"Really, people?" Eleanor says testily. "Now is not the time for arguing! Are we taking this job or not?" She glares at each crewmember in turn. "I vote yes. Seiko votes yes. Sylvie? Katie?"

"We’ll take it," Katie says.  The text from her informant has her curious.

"That’s three for go," Eleanor says. She looks to Sylvie.

Sylvie blinks at Seiko’s unfazed response, then at Eleanor’s scolding. Finally, she throws up her hands. “Fine. Whatever. I don’t even care if it’s a trap anymore. Prison might actually be more fun than this.”

Katie puts out her hand. “Hand me the phone, if you would.”

As Eleanor passes the phone to Katie, she whispers to Sylvie, “This might be a chance to practice your Drift compatibility analyses with a new pair. Thought you’d be excited about that, at least.”

"Perhaps I can ride to Lilyfield with the captain and set up… the meeting I mentioned earlier," Seiko offers.

Katie holds up a hand for quiet and unmutes the phone.  “Ma’am, I must apologize for my associates.  We’ll be happy to take your case at a quarter of your price.”

"Oh… okay?" Leah says, sounding somewhat confused. "Thank you. You know my address, so… I don’t leave her side for very long. So I’ll be here. Thank you, again. Please, please, please don’t get Lora in trouble."

"We’ll do our best, ma’am," Eleanor assures her.

"We won’t," Sylvie says flatly. "I’m pretty sure she’s not involved."

"Wow,” Leah says, bitter. “It would have been nice if someone had told you that up front."

Eleanor snorts, though whether it’s from amusement or annoyance is hard to tell.

"It would also be nice not having to worry if someone’s compromising your safety with stories of how greatly exaggerated your death reports are," Sylvie says back. She looks to Katie, giving her a  _'can we hang up now, please'_ look.

"We had to run a check on the name,” Seiko explains. “Wanted ads to a dead woman are suspicious, and there are some who would use stories of an injured child to set a trap."

"…We’ll be in touch, ma’am," says Eleanor.

Katie hangs up.

Miranda stirs a bit, her head shifting in Seiko’s lap as she regains consciousness. She’s still a bit out of it from whatever those pills had been, but the pain in her jaw and hand are gone. And the fact that she woke up at all is a plus, too. “…What’d I miss?”

**Scene 2**

About an hour later, the team pulls up to a midsized house in Lilyfield with not much in the way of distinguishing markings.

"Have I mentioned," Sylvie says, frowning at the house out their large van’s windows, "what a terrible idea this is?"

"Once or twice," Eleanor mutters.

Sylvie glances back at the rest of the team. “I mean, really. Is anyone here drift compatible, at all? Has anyone here besides me even trained for that sort of thing? How exactly are we expecting to make this work?”

Eleanor glances over. “You know I worked in J-Tech doing this sort of thing for several years, right?”

"I’m J-Tech, Mansen,” Miranda says. She looks out the window of the car, trying to see if there’s anything amiss. “I know my way around a Pons. Drifting’s not actually as difficult as you might think."

Sylvie goes quiet at that, frowning.

The team piles out of the van, walking up to the door of the house. Seiko steps forward to ring the bell. After a moment, Leah opens the door. She’s a lot more composed now. “Hello? Who is it?”

"The Easter Bunny," Sylvie mutters under her breath, too quietly to be heard from where she stands at the back of the group. She’s in a mood for dark humor, and nothing darkens her mood more than thinking of what Zhu’s going to think of this whole operation.

Seiko holds out his hand. “You heard my voice earlier on the phone. I’m Mitchel Ueda. I’m here to help your daughter”

"And I’m Ellen Ward," Eleanor says. "We spoke earlier as well. I apologize if I seemed curt."

"Ma’am," Katie says, who is wearing sunglasses.  "I’m Kate Barnes. Let’s see what we can do for your daughter."

Miranda approaches as well, shaking Leah’s hand. “Danielle Lawson,” she offers. “A pleasure, Ms. Moretz. May we come in?”

"Yes. Please, come in. Is…" She lowers her voice to a low whisper. "Is Ms. Mansen with you?"

Sylvie leans sideways just a bit, giving a half-hearted wave. She hefts her duffle bag. “What exactly are you wanting me to do, Ms. Moretz? And where do you want me to do it? Because… this isn’t exactly the lightest of equipment I’m shouldering here.”

Eleanor takes a quick look around outside, but sees nothing out of the ordinary. That doesn’t mean the house isn’t under surveillance, though. She decides to keep a close eye out.

"She’s in her room,” Leah says. “Follow me."

Miranda follows her inside, subtly surveying the inside of the house as she goes. She doesn’t know anything about this woman, and she’s still a bit suspicious of that newspaper ad. The house seems to line up with what the others told her, though. Maybe she’s worried for nothing. Still, she can’t shake the feeling that something is… off, somehow.

Leah leads the group past fairly plain, undecorated halls to a room upstairs which is undoubtedly Deena’s. She opens the door, revealing the same room from the video. Deena is in the corner; machines beep softly in the dark.

Miranda taps Seiko lightly on the arm.  _‘Stay sharp,’_  she mouths silently.

Sylvie steps inside, then sets her bag on the ground and rubs her shoulder. “So, what now?”

"I want to show you something, before you start," Leah says.

"Alright," Eleanor says quietly, stepping a little closer to the girl. She edges closer to the window behind the girl’s bed.

Sylvie’s eyes narrow. “What is it?”

Leah reaches into her jacket. Sylvie tenses, but the woman only pulls out a phone.

However, while Sylvie relaxes at that, Seiko reaches into his bag speaking sternly. “Please refrain from making phone calls until we leave.”

Leah jumps at the implied threat in the words. ” I-I, No, I… It’s a video. I want to show you a video.”

Seiko nods and drops his hand back to his side.

"Why?" Sylvie asks.

"It might help,” Leah says. “I don’t know. I hid a camera in her room. It caught He— the nanny putting her in her bed unconscious. The attack must have happened elsewhere."

Seiko has subconsciously began looking around the room, cleaning up the corners, checking vitals, adjusting pillows and such. “Mind finishing the sentence you nearly said? It would help to now as much about the situation as possible.”

Eleanor steps away from the child’s bed. “Was her name Helen? Helga?”

"No. It’s Rita,” Leah says. “Why? Can I just show you the video?"

Eleanor waves her hand. “Just curious. Go ahead.”

Miranda edges a bit closer, looking at the screen. Something about this still feels off.

She holds her phone out so that the group can see the screen then presses play. A young woman with long, straight, dark hair and tan skin hauls the unconscious Deena in the room, looks around, steals something off the nightstand, and leaves.

"What was that?" Miranda points to the screen. "Do you know what it is that she took?"

"A cell phone, maybe?" Eleanor postulates, before realizing that she should’ve kept her mouth shut.

Leah shakes her head. “Probably. I can’t find Deena’s phone anywhere.”

Seiko speaks up. “Do you know why you’d be targeted?”

"I haven’t heard any demands,” Leah says. “I don’t know what they want. Or why they wouldn’t just kidnap her."

Miranda raises an eyebrow, glancing at the girl in the bed. She begins walking around the room, looking at the various items in Deena’s room.

"What else do you have here that you value, other than yourself and your daughter?" Eleanor asks.

"And 80 K," Seiko adds.

“And,” Sylvie says, shaking the duffle strap in her hand a bit, “what exactly are you planning on using my tech for?”

Leah shrugs.  ”Some jewelry. Some of it was missing. Not all. The cops haven’t found any of it…” She turns to Sylvie. “I want to drift with my daughter. See what she saw. Find some evidence that will find the monster that did this to her.”

"What you’re asking is not a small thing,” Seiko says warningly. “An adult mind is a lot of pressure for a young girl. If somebody must drift, you may be the best choice. Think about all the things you have done in your life. Will your daughter be okay knowing all of that?"

Leah gives a small nod. “I’d rather there was some other way. But it has to be me.”

"And  _if_  it does happen, I’ll be here to supervise. Closely.” Eleanor says with a smile.

“Ma’am, before you do that,” Miranda says, “can I ask you a bit about your daughter? What she was like, what she enjoyed doing, that sort of thing?” She turns, a hand resting on a model car on the top of the wardrobe. “A lot of drifting is about compatibility. One of us might be a better match, or at the very least, talking about her will strengthen your bond with her and make drifting easier for both of you.”

"Not to mention," Sylvie says, "It’s possible that she’s been through some mental trauma. You could face some damage in the drift if her mind’s been hurt."

Leah nods, then looks at Deena.  ”She’s a smart girl. She’s interested in technology, it’s not something she got from me. She’s 7, and goes through interests a lot.”

Eleanor narrows her eyes a little, noticing something as the woman speaks .”What was that movement you made?” Eleanor asks casually, mimicking Leah’s hand-flick.

Leah blinks. “What? Nothing.”

A knowing gleam enters Eleanor’s eyes. “Ma’am, I know you’re going through some tough times, here,” she says softly, calmly. “I know what that’s like.” She walks over slowly, puts a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “But if you’re not honest with us,” the gleam turns hard, “we will walk out of here. Right. Now.”

Leah shakes her head. “I’m sorry. It’s nothing, I’m just nervous is all.”

Eleanor’s hand drops. Her hard look is turned on the girl in bed. “When someone has everything to lose, and yet continues to lie…it casts suspicion on the whole situation, does it not?” she asks the room at large.

Miranda tenses, shifting a bit.

"I could say the same to Ms. Mansen," Leah says coldly.

Sylvie’s eyes go wide. “Excuse me? You want to explain what you mean by that statement?”

Leah immediately backs off. “I’m sorry. I… that wasn’t a threat, it’s just… this has been hard for me.”

Eleanor trails one hand along the heart monitor. “I do believe, madam, that  _you_ are the one with more to lose, here.”

Seiko pulls out a gun visibly this time.

Leah jumps again, stepping in front of Deena. “Don’t kill her!”

"I would never-" Seiko says, defensively. And then he stops when he remembers he’s done similar and worse. Katie puts a hand on his shoulder as if to restrain him, but she has also subtly shifted into a ready stance.

"We’re not child-killers, Madam," Eleanor says, rolling her eyes. "But let me make this clear - saving the child does not have to involve you."

Miranda stumbles a bit, bracing herself on the wardrobe behind her.  _I’m too far from the door, I’m too far from the door, I’m too far from the door._

Seiko stands up, trying to keep in front of everyone while moving over to brace Miranda.

Leah walks to stand beside Deena. “Who are you people anyway? Why does Sylvie Mansen have a man with a gun, and…” She looks at Eleanor, and the group can almost hear the words  _‘something even scarier.’_

"We’re not  _her_  people,” Miranda throws out quickly. “She’s one of  _ours_.”

Eleanor smiles, but it’s frosty. “And if you want to find out, you’ll start telling us the truth.”

Sylvie picks up the strap on her duffle again, trying to decide if she should lift the bag and run, or stay and sort through this. “Okay. I don’t know what exactly what’s going on in here, but I’m about two seconds from saying ‘I told you so’ to you all and walking out of here. So unless someone explains what the hell is going on, I’m leaving and I’m taking my tech with me.”

Leah starts getting very agitated. “I am! Telling! The truth! I need to… to save…”

Katie catches Seiko’s eye, and nods in the direction they came from. Miranda also gives him a nod, assuring him that she’s alright to walk. Seiko casually makes for the door and starts to look around. Sylvie slings her duffle bag up onto her shoulder, waiting to leave after everyone else.

 As Eleanor begins to follow her teammates out the door, she stops and turns. “I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what we do, madam,” she says quietly. “It’s not about the money. It’s about trust. If we can’t trust you, then…” she trails off, looking toward the little form in the bed. She shakes her head mournfully. “We can’t help you. I’m sorry.”

"I need you to… help my daughter…" A drop of blood falls from Leah’s nose.

Eleanor’s eyes widen. “Sylvie? Miranda?” she shouts, rushing back into the room. “A little help!”

Miranda steps forward as well, supporting the other woman. “Are you alright?”

Sylvie freezes, watching her two teammates hold Leah, not sure what to do. “You’re… bleeding.”

Seiko slips back into the room, moving over to Deenah’s bed and standing in front of it protectively.

Katie starts giving orders, trying to take control of the situation. “We need a first aid kit! Quick!” 

Leah blinks as though her head is clearing. “What? I’m fine.”

"Ma’am,” Miranda says. “You’re bleeding."

Making sure that Miranda can hold Leah if she collapses, Eleanor grabs a tissue off the bookshelf. She hands it to Leah carefully.

Leah dabs at her nose, looking somewhat disoriented. “Oh. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

When no one responds to her order, Katie sighs and decides to go for the kit herself. She runs down the stairs, headed for the van.

Eleanor steps up beside Sylvie and leans in close. “That looks a helluva lot like post-Drift bleeding,” she says under her breath.

Sylvie looks at Eleanor, lifting her hand to her own nose as she nods, as if to check for blood there herself. “Yes… it does…”

"Something’s not right here," Eleanor murmurs.

"Just figuring that out now, are you?" Miranda says, arm still supporting Leah.

"No,” Leah insists. “I’m sure it’s nothing."

Katie returns quickly, kit in hand. With Seiko still standing protectively over Deena, she addresses the three women. “Any idea what’s up?”

Miranda shakes her head at Katie’s question, then looks back at Leah. “Ms. Moretz, can I ask you about your own medical history?”

Leah blinks. “Hypertension and macular degeneration. Why?”

"Have you had an MRI or CAT scan recently?" Eleanor cuts in, her professional side taking over.

"No,” Leah says, sounding confused. “Why are you asking?"

"You blacked out, your nose started bleeding, and you’ve been drifting in and out of coherency,” Miranda says. “I know it’s difficult to go take care of yourself when you’re alone, but you need to be careful that you don’t run yourself into the ground trying to protect someone else. A mother’s not much use to her daughter if she’s dead."

"My nose…?" Leah blinks. "I’m sure it’s nothing."

Sylvie looks up suddenly, her hand still near her face. “We could find out what’s wrong with her…” She looks down at the duffle bag again, then makes eye contact with Miranda. “You said you know your way around a Pons? We could see for ourselves what’s bothering Ms. Moretz.”

Miranda starts, glancing over at Sylvie. “I… I would be willing to try.”

"Careful," says Eleanor. "You don’t know what you’ll find, or what you’ll leave behind for other people to see."

Sylvie looks to Leah, crossing her arms firmly. “New stipulation for using my tech. You drift with my associate first.”

Leah looks between the two of them. “Why?”

"Because you’re acting suspicious as  _all get out_  and bleeding from the nose and I want to know what the hell is going on!” Sylvie says tersely.

"It’s also safer to Drift with two conscious adults first, before attempting to Drift with a child," Eleanor adds.

Leah frowns. “Bleeding?”

Miranda shakes her head, clasping the other woman’s hands in her own. “Ma-Leah,” she starts. “I know this is probably very confusing, and that we haven’t given you a lot of reason to trust us. But please believe me when I say that doing this will help us to better help you and your daughter. I’ve done this plenty of times before. Please let me help you.”

Sylvie pulls out the Pons, handing it over to Miranda. “You’ve really done this before?”

Miranda shoots her an annoyed glance. “You know I have, Mansen; I’ve mentioned it several times now. But we’ve got bigger problems right now, and I need to concentrate.”

"Sorry," Sylvie says, shaking her head, and pulling out her laptop to run the controls. She should be able to shut it down if something goes wrong.  _Hopefully._ Eleanor squats next to Sylvie to help monitor the controls.

Seiko goes to stand next to Miranda as she prepares to drift. Miranda nods to him a bit, giving a smile in an attempt to mask her nerves. He takes her hand in the most comforting way he can manage.

Miranda returns her attention to Leah. “So? Are you willing to do this?”

Leah pauses for a long time, then nods. “Okay. For my daughter.”

As soon as the two are set up, Sylvie nods to each of them. “Initiating Neural Handshake. 3, 2, 1.”

Miranda’s face twists in pain for a brief moment, her eyes flickering back and forth behind her eyelids, before relaxing again.

> _A hospital. White walls. (BLACKNESS) Odd fabric around your— [STATIC] A room full of children. A sense of regret. A room, with a mach— [STATIC PAIN STATIC] This house, in ruins. Tears and people. (BLACKNESS) Deena’s face, repeated over and over, oddly fuzzy, drifting off, becoming clearer sharply. A drop of bloo— [PAIN STATIC PAIN PAIN STATIC]_
> 
> _(BLACKNESS)_

This process repeats several times as the images flood Miranda’s mind. She tries to hold on for as long as she can, trying to grab onto some helpful memory, but she can’t maintain the connection for long; she’s too wary of letting someone into her mind, despite her best efforts.

The drift ends suddenly, and she jerks forward. She drops to her knees, clutching her head in pain. Seiko lets himself drop with her, pulling off the Pons and holding her.

Sylvie shuts down the connection as soon as Miranda moves, but the drift is already gone. “Miranda!” She starts to move forward, but Seiko stops her with a venomous glare. She purses her lips, but takes a step back.  _Not the time to press them…_

Eleanor puts a hand on Miranda’s back briefly, and pulls the Pons off Leah. The woman groans, not quite conscious yet. Sylvie tenses, ready to grab Leah if Miranda reveals there’s anything fishy going on.

"Aaargh- Dammit, Mansen!" Miranda lets out a final half shout, shaking her head to dispel the pain. She focuses on her breathing, clutching Seiko with one arm and Eleanor with the other. "I’m… I’m fine… Paper. Get me paper."

"What did I do?!" Sylvie asks, bewildered.

"Watch-" Miranda’s breath catches. "Watch the names!" She releases her grip on Eleanor to put an insistent hand out towards Sylvie. “Paper.”

"I don’t have any!" Sylvie says, holding up her hands. "I have a laptop for crying out loud! I don’t carry paper!"

"L-Laptop then! Hurry!"

Sylvie gives her a territorial look, then groans in frustration, disconnecting the Pons’ wires and handing it over.

In the hubbub just after the Drift, all eyes are on Miranda. She snatches the computer quickly, starting to type out as much as she can remember from the Drift with her shaking fingers.

But only Katie notices the odd little gesture she makes with her hand before she starts typing…

 


	4. Session #14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the last Sydney Scroungers, mistrust, conspiracy, and the Hand Jive cause trouble for the Scroungers as their new client is not exactly as she seems. But is she a villain… or a victim? And was it really a good idea for Miranda to go poking in her head?

**Scene 1**

As Miranda continues to type, Sylvie moves over, trying to read over her. She’s also more than a little apprehensive about someone else using her laptop and wants to keep a close eye on it. “M-” She cuts off, remembering that they’re not supposed to use real names, but unable to remember what fake name Miranda gave. She really ought to start paying attention to those. “Are you okay? What did you see?”

"Shh!" Miranda waves a hand towards her. "Focus need." She continues typing the words as quickly as she can, letting her memory of the drift manifest itself as accurately as possible in her writing. Parts of it still hurt to remember. As she reaches the end of her typing, she clutches her head again, pushing the laptop away from her slightly.

"Danielle…" says Katie worriedly, "did you mean to do something with your hand just then?"

Eleanor’s eyes snap over to Katie, then to Miranda. “ _What_?” she asks urgently.

Sylvie hastily tries to remember which of them is ‘Danielle,’ then sees the others looking at Miranda. “Wait, what do you mean by that?”

"Huh?" Miranda glances down at her hand. Her pinky is touching her palm, but her other fingers are up. She had waved it in front of her, mimicking the motion Leah had been doing earlier. "Probably leftover from bad disconnect," she says. "Should stop in a few hours."

Leah groans and rubbed her temples. Whatever she saw in the Drift, it was enough to keep her out for a little while.

"Does it mean something?" Sylvie asks, trying to lean in again and read the typed text.

"Dunno. Not exactly thinking straight, arg—" Miranda flinches slightly. "-at the moment. There," she says, pulling her hands away from the keyboard. She passes the laptop to Seiko as soon as she’s done, so she isn’t tempted to reread it and take things out. Anything she saw could be important.

Sylvie’s eyes go wide as Miranda passes it over and makes a grabbing motion for her laptop but doesn’t manage to get it in time. “Give that to me!” she says frantically. Miranda on her computer is bad enough, but Seiko is far more than she’s okay with.

"Still not the time," Seiko says, turning away the laptop. He looks over the screen, keeping it tilted away from everyone else.

"It’s okay," Miranda mutters. The drift took more out of her than she had realized. She doesn’t have the energy to not trust her team at this point.

Eleanor squats down next to Miranda and rubs slow circles against her back.

Having made sure the info is safe and Miranda hasn’t too directly said anything about her own past, Seiko turns the screen so everyone can see.

_A hospital. White walls. Familiar? No. Yes. Not there. Somewhere else._

_(Hers, not mine.)_

_Cobblestones. Still hers. The road uneven beneath my feet. Cobblestones. Or is it? Broken pavement odd fabric around her my_

_[no no no]_

_A room full of children. A sense of regret. Regret. Children. They said they wanted, no mine again. A room with a machine. A room with many machines. A sense of regret. Regret for what what do you regret so many machines I can’t help Ja_

_[no get away from those they’re mine]_

_too many buildings destroyed. the entire block leveled. the roof collapsing. this house in ruins. tears and people. how did this happen why couldn’t I_

_(stop focus)_

_The girl. Deena. My daughter. My mother. LeandrLeah my her mother daughter her face over and over fuzzy drifting away no come back suddenly clearer. Blood. One drop of blood. Red, not blue. Whose blood? Mine hers both? My blood her blood mother daughter too much blood not enoughhhhhhhhhhhhhelphelphelphelphelphelpminehersminemine_

_[painpainpainpainstaticpaintoomuchithurtshelpmesomeonejaseikatieleansen]_

_[GETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUT]_

_(GET OUT OF MY HEAD)_

_—(end of drift)—_

Seiko goes to check on Leah, pulling back her eyelids and checking her pulse, very purposefully not looking at Miranda. Eleanor keeps rubbing Miranda’s back. She’s seen post-Drift burnout before, and she’s desperately hoping that it doesn’t happen to her friend.

Sylvie snatches her laptop back from Seiko as he gets up, then reads over the log again, trying to see if it makes any more sense the second time. “Um… does this mean anything?”

Miranda glances at the log again. “Still… hard to make sense of.” She unconsciously waves her hand again. “The hospital… might be something, but I…”

Leah’s pulse is strong. She opens her eyes after a moment, looking up at Seiko. “That…” She sounds like she has a dry throat. “That wasn’t fun. Are you satisfied I’m not going to kill my daughter?”

"I’m not the one to ask," he says. He still doesn’t turn to look at Miranda as he speaks. "Ms. Cross, did you note anything that could be related to what our client is trying to hide?"

Sylvie shoots Leah a look. “I don’t even know what just happened.” She flips the laptop around. “Care to explain what all this means?”

 _Leandra, blue blood, different names…_ Eleanor doesn’t think they’re going to get much out of the Drift from those few details. Maybe the hours to come would be more illuminating, though. Sometimes lingering emotional effects were more helpful than facts.

"I’m actually less satisfied than before that you won’t kill her." Miranda stands up slowly. "This is…" she stumbles a bit, bracing herself against Eleanor for support. "This is not how a person should look after drifting. If this is the state of an experienced drifter after visiting your mind, you could end up doing some serious damage to an unconscious child with no past experience."

"For what it’s worth, I don’t think you’re a murderer," Eleanor says to Leah. "But accidents happen, and… you don’t want your daughter’s death to be your fault. Trust me." She carefully avoids making eye contact with the woman.

"Ms. Moretz," Katie says.  "Have you ever drifted with your daughter before?"

"N-no!” Leah says. “I’ve never drifted before at all! I just want to know who did this to her!"

"I agree with Mi—Danielle. It’s a bad idea," Sylvie says. "There’s obviously something wrong with Ms. Moretz’s drifting. Also, to be honest I don’t really feel good about the two of them drifting without one of us able to supervise. I think the best option would be to have one of us drift with Deena, but I don’t know who it would be."

"Not…" Miranda coughs a bit. "Not Sylvie. I can do it, any of us can."

Sylvie laughs bitterly. “Yeah. I wasn’t volunteering. I don’t think you’re a good candidate either right now though, Danielle.”

"Something is very wrong," says Katie, unsure herself if she is on to something or just read too many books about frog lizards during her formative years.

Eleanor frowns, thinks - she doesn’t have a family, any secrets that could really endanger anyone but herself, or…well, any attachments, really. She clears her throat. “I could do it, but only if I ran a few scans first.”

"I’d volunteer myself,” Seiko says, “but I doubt any of us want to give my memories to a kid."

Sylvie shudders, shooting him a glance. “Seconded. Your memories apparently drove one of me crazy already, so let’s not do that.”

Miranda gives Sylvie a confused look.

"Her current explanation of why fiVe not liking her is that drifting caused the rift," Seiko explains.

Miranda makes a noncommittal sound. “So are we doing this? I’d be fine.” She glances at Seiko. “…But my memories might not be great for a little girl, either.”

"I feel our best may actually be the captain," he suggests.

"The real question is, what the hell do we think is going on here?" Katie says. "I know I don’t have y’all’s expertise, but… this is a good deal more than a bad reaction to a Drift, is it not? Leah’s nose is bleeding.  For some reason she subconsciously expects the blood to be blue, y’know, the color of  _Kaiju blood_.  Miranda keeps doing things with her hands.”

Sylvie glances away. “I’ve seen worse… But yeah, this is not great.”

Eleanor nods. “This is worse than I’ve seen, even with entirely incompatible candidates.”

Miranda flinches a bit, although whether it’s residual pain from the drift or from Sylvie’s words is unclear. “I still haven’t worked out the details. I’m trying to put my thoughts back together, but I keep getting…” she glances at Sylvie. “Interrupted. I’ll keep working on it.” She glances down at her hand. “Dammit.”

Eleanor’s voice lowers another couple of notches. “I can’t be sure, but this seems like it could be the aftereffects of some kind of illegally-rigged Pons system. I’ve heard tales of them being used in the underground to forcibly extract memories, and the like.” She shakes her head. “I thought they were just urban legends, but…you never know.”

"Mir—Danielle?  You know anything about this?"

"I’m sure it’s nothing," she offers. "Pons are highly advanced tech; even I don’t know all the details behind how they work. You’d have to be pretty damn smart to make something like that."

"What do you mean by that?" Eleanor asks Miranda, eyes narrowing. The phrase sounds eerily similar to the responses they’d been getting from Leah. And her tone—it’s like déjà vu, like the hand movement…unconsciously identical.

"…Pons are hard to make," Miranda says to Eleanor with a raise of an eyebrow, speaking slowly and enunciating. "It’s not something you can make out of bits of trash."

"You’re ‘sure it’s nothing’?" says Katie, now a bit distraught. "You do realize that is exactly what Leah said when we pointed out her nose was bleeding, right?"

"That’s not exactly an uncommon phrase,” Miranda says to Katie. “If I drift with someone and start hailing Our Most Holy Reptilords, then you should be worried. But for this," she makes quotation marks in the air. "I’m sure it’s nothing."

"I don’t know," Sylvie says, starting to grow worried. "I… think there might be something wrong…"

"Guys," Miranda says, dropping her arms to her side again. "I’m fine. But really, we’ve got more important worries at the moment? The unconscious girl in the bed?"

"Will still be there once we know you’re okay," Seiko finishes.

“ _She’s_  stable, at least,” says Eleanor reprovingly. “You—and Leah—are still barely post-Drift. Which means close monitoring. You of all people should know that.”

"Guys," Sylvie says, slowly starting to piece theories together. "I think Miranda may be… compromised. Look, I’ve worked with drift systems for years and I’ve read a lot about some of the theoretical possibilities. Like, behavioral psych therapy. It was just an idea that someone put forth, but I can think of a lot of ways someone might use that against someone. I think someone may have messed with Leah’s mind in a drift. And I think it may be mentally contagious." She glances at Miranda as she says the last sentence.

Eleanor feels her stomach sink down to somewhere near her knees. She curses under her breath. “Are there any recourses?”

Katie doesn’t wait for Sylvie to answer.  She stands up and walks over to Leah.

"I didn’t even know that the tech had caught up to the theories," Sylvie says, spreading her hands in front of her. "The papers I was reading… they were talking about willing patients. Helping people through— Katie? What are you—"

"Come on guys, I’m sure it’s…" Miranda hesitates, glancing down at her hand. "…nothing."

"Look what you’ve done to my first officer!" Katie says harshly to Leah.  "Ms. Moretz, I realize this probably isn’t your fault, but I’m beyond caring. Who is Leandra? What is your daughter’s name?  What is your mother’s name?"

Eleanor stands. “Katie—”

"I… I don’t know a Leandra." Leah’s voice shakes. "My daughter’s name is Deena. My mother’s name is Sharon."

Miranda tenses. “Leandra?”

Sylvie looks back at Miranda. “Do you know who Leandra is?”

"I don’t think this is a useful course of questioning, Captain," Seiko says warningly.

"Where did you hear that name?" Miranda asks.

Seiko looks toward her. “It was on what you typed, Ms. Cross”

Miranda glances sharply over at the computer, her eyes wide. “I… I did?” She shakes her head. “Sorry Captain, that’s… That’s one of mine.”

Katie turns and shakes her index finger in Seiko’s face.  “If this isn’t a good line of questioning, then tell me when you come up with one.”

"Alright,” Seiko says evenly. “Should we be leaving her alive?"

"Yes!" Sylvie shouts, horrified. "What is with you and trying to kill innocent people!? She’s our closest connection to whatever happened to Miranda and you just want to… Augh!"

Miranda jumps a bit at Seiko’s suggestion. “No, don’t hurt her!” It’s a bit louder than she intended. “She’s… I’m still putting things together, but she’s not responsible for… for whatever this is.”

"And considering that she’s our best lead on what has happened to your girlfriend?” Katie adds. “Yes, she lives." She gives Leah a dark look. "For now."

Seiko twitches a bit at ‘girlfriend,’ but doesn’t otherwise respond to it. “I wanted to come here, and clearly I was wrong. I’m just trying to mitigate the damage, but if Ms. Cross says she’s safe, she knows best. Though I’d mention it’s not a matter of intent.”

 “Have we all forgotten the  _reason_  we came here?” Eleanor asks, peeved. She gestures toward the bed in the corner. “This child needs help, whether or not her mother has…problems. If we can’t help the kid, we really need to re-evaluate what we’re doing.”

"Ms. Moretz.  I need you to think.  Why is your nose bleeding?" Katie speaks calmly, but she holds Leah’s eyes. She’s going to try to break whatever programming is keeping Leah from talking honestly. "Did something hit you?  Are you on some kind of medication?"

"My nose is bleeding?" Leah dabs her finger to her nose, looks at it. Her eyes roll back for a second. "No, nothing hit me. And I’m on a cholesterol medicine and an antianxiety pill, why are you asking?"

"El,” Katie says, not breaking eye contact with Leah. “Any chance those could cause spontaneous nosebleeds?"

“Maybe?” Eleanor says slowly. “There’s always a chance of drug interactions. But this memetic thing makes me suspect some kind of…other physiological problem.” She didn’t say ‘possibly sinus tumors’ because that would likely not help the woman’s current mental state.

Sylvie raises her hand, cocking her head sideways. “Um… experimental drift technology could explain it. Like I said?”

"Y-yes, that’s what I meant," Eleanor lies.

"Antianxiety drugs?" Miranda steps forward a bit. "I know a bit about that myself. Have you looked into any other treatments? Therapy, hypnosis, herbal remedies, anything like that?"

Leah starts to zone out.

"…Leah?" Miranda repeats.

"Yes? Oh, sorry,” Leah says. “The medication works just fine for me. I don’t think I’d like hypnosis much. When are you going to help my daughter?"

Sylvie sighs, looking between Katie and Eleanor. “Does someone want to try drifting with her? I think it’s a risk, considering what happened to Miranda…”

"I’m fine," Miranda says instinctively.

Sylvie raises an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with your hand, then?”

Miranda looks down at her hand again. “Dammit!” She holds her hand up to her face, glaring at it intently. “Stop. Doing. That.” She looks up suddenly, the room feeling a bit small. “…Can I go outside?”

"Nobody drifts until we have at least a working hypothesis of what’s going on here," Katie orders.

Eleanor glares at Miranda. “I agree with Katie. We have to stay focused here. Maybe use some traditional investigation methods first.”

Katie turns back to the dazed mother, questioning again. “Leah.  I want you to tell me why you think your nose is bleeding.”

Leah blinks. “My nose?” She touches a finger to the blood. “I’m sure it’s…”

"…sure it’s nothing." Sylvie finishes with her.

"Nothing, yes.  We know," Katie says. "Why?  Why is it bleeding?"

"It’s… I’m sure…" Leah grimaces in pain.

Eleanor sighs loudly.

"…Would you kindly?" Miranda tosses out with a wry grin.

Sylvie jumps, hearing the reference and looking at Miranda wide-eyed. “That had better have been a very poorly-timed joke…”

Miranda’s eyebrows raise slightly, a genuine grin crossing her face for a moment. “Huh, hadn’t expected anyone to catch that. Good on ya, Mansen.”

Sylvie puts a hand over her eyes. “Is this really the time?”

Eleanor suppresses a half-hysterical giggle.

"It would have  _had to have_  been a poorly timed joke, Mansen.” Miranda smiles a bit wider when she sees Eleanor’s reaction. “Or perhaps that tense hasn’t been invented yet.”

Katie puts her face very close to Leah’s and looks her in the eyes.  “Answer.  The. Damn. Question.”

Leah grits her teeth. “ _I don’t understand what question!_ ”

Leah’s tone makes the grin fade from Miranda’s face. Her attention is brought back to the room. It still feels wrong, and it’s really starting to bother her. “But seriously, can I go outside?” She raises her hands quickly. “If it makes you feel better, someone can come with me.”

"Your nose is bleeding,” Katie says again. “Why?"

"My…" Leah’s eyes try to roll back again. She refocuses them, with great effort. It sounds like she’s choking. "I… don’t… know." Her nose starts bleeding even harder.

Seiko pulls Miranda to her feet, as Miranda says, “Stop!”

Sylvie steps forward, putting a hand on Katie’s arm. “Katie, you’re hurting her, stop!”

Eleanor feels a sudden wave of guilt about pressing Leah to admit to things she didn’t remember doing. “Katie, I really don’t think this is the best way to—”

Katie takes a deep breath, still focused on Leah.  “You don’t know.  That’s fine!  We want to figure it out.” She looks at Sylvie and Eleanor. “And for all we know this is what is going to happen to Miranda if we don’t stop it!  Do you understand that?”

 _Think fast,_ Eleanor thinks as she turns to Leah. “Ma’am, we want to find out if there’s something communicable or hereditary that might affect our drift with your daughter,” she says swiftly. “This is not a personal attack.” She nods to Katie as an afterthought. She knows the risks.

"You forcing her to bleed out through the nose from mental trauma isn’t going to—" Sylvie cuts off as Seiko’s moves suddenly, turning sharply.

Catching a glimpse of something outside, Seiko pulls out a gun and runs over to the window, causing Miranda to stumble a bit as she loses her support. Eleanor steps in and curls an arm under Miranda’s. Her adrenaline suddenly spikes.

"Everybody shut up for a second," Seiko orders, staring outside.

Leah starts shaking, but keeps quiet.

When Miranda sees Seiko has his gun out, she grabs Deena’s bed and rolls it away from the window as best she can before getting behind cover herself.

"Damn it," Seiko says, and vaults down the stairs.

**Scene 2**

"Seiko!" Sylvie shouts. Without thinking, she runs after him, already preparing for a fight. "Stay down!" she yells back at the others. Katie’s already in motion though, as she jumps up and runs after them.

Eleanor pulls Miranda to the floor with her, and yanks Leah down by her shirtsleeve. “Stay down,” she says to Leah, whose nose is still oozing.

Miranda tenses up, her eyes wide and staring at the wall. Her breathing is thin and shallow.

Eleanor curses quietly. Leaving the other women on the floor, she jumps up and runs after Sylvie and Katie.

"Somebody was watching us from across the street," Seiko calls to the women following him.

"Location?" says Katie.

He points to the house where he’d seen the figure. “I don’t know where they were positioned. They ducked away when I saw them. I don’t know if they’re armed. They were using binoculars, so at least we know they don’t have sniper sights.”

"Can you cover us from the van?" Katie asks.

Beside her, Sylvie’s tensed, up on the balls of her feet, looking across the street for any sign of movement. “I believe I  _mentioned_  that this job was a bad idea?”

As she comes up behind them and hears the situation assessment, Eleanor nods to herself, turning back. If no one was actively shooting at them, someone needed to stay with the mentally-compromised people, she reasons. She ducks back into the house.

Upstairs, Miranda shakily moves into a crouching position. She walks unsteadily to the door, and slowly manages to make it to the top of the stairwell. She sits down carefully on the top step, edging her way down one stair at a time.

Alone in the room, Leah tries to stand up. She grabs the Pons helmet and repositions it on her head. Then she reaches for the other one. She shakily puts the other Pons helmet on Deena, muttering under her breath.

Eleanor makes it halfway up the stairs before seeing Miranda at the top of them. “What are you doing?” she asks breathlessly, helping her friend to her feet. “Someone needs to stay with the girl! And the equipment!”

Sylvie turns back toward the stairs at that. “You left her alone with my tech?! I thought I told you to stay down!”

"Sylvie! Get up here and help Mir— Danielle down the stairs!" Eleanor shouts. She skids around the corner, shoes sliding on the carpet. She flies into the bedroom, sees what’s going on and immediately tackles Leah. Both women fall to the ground with a muffled  _thump_.

"I need out," Miranda mutters. "I need to get out of this house, it’s wrong. It’s wrong, it’s wrong it’s wrong—" she blinks hard, forcing herself to focus.

Sylvie swears, realizing that her tech is, in fact, unsupervised. She runs back for the stairs, but passes Miranda, rushing back into the room with Eleanor instead.

Miranda startles at the sudden movement, nearly falling down the stairs. She catches herself on the railing. She shakily walks down five more stairs, gripping the rail hard. She’s almost to the bottom of the stairs before she’s interrupted by the crashing sounds from upstairs. She’s not able to catch herself this time, falling down the last three stairs and landing hard on the entryway floor. She awkwardly rights herself, her body numb to the pain it’s in. She stumbles out onto the porch, and manages to limp halfway down the walkway before she collapses.

In front of her, Seiko goes to the van and gets out his sniper rifle, ready to catch any escapees. He doesn’t notice Miranda coming out of the house behind him. Katie runs to the door of the house across the street and kicks the door in. The house erupts into screams. Some of them sound like children.

**Scene 3**

Upstairs, Leah is pinned to the ground, face up, Eleanor’s arm pressing against her collarbone as Sylvie rushes in. Eleanor is breathing heavily as she yanks the Pons off of Leah’s head. “What in the  _hell_  were you  _thinking_?” she hisses, for what seems like the millionth time that day.

"I need to help her!” Leah yells, squirming. “You people were just… talking nonsense about Leander and nosebleeds and I don’t know what else!"

Eleanor glares down at her. “Seriously? You abuse our equipment, endanger your _own child’s life_ , and—” She finally registers the horrible sounds outside. “What  _is_ that?”

Sylvie moves over quickly, taking over holding down Leah. “Go see to Miranda! I’ve got her.” She has no plans on leaving her equipment unwatched again. Bad things happen to her tech when she loses sight of it.

"Okay," Eleanor says uncertainly. "Don’t let her hurt the kid, okay? Do whatever you have to." She shoots a parting glare Leah’s way, then jogs out of the room and down the stairs.

Sylvie glares down at Leah, keeping the woman pinned. “Look, I’m not great at people, but let me make something very clear, Ms. Moretz. You do not  _ever_  touch my tech without my permission again. When whatever snafu is going on outside settles down, we’ll figure out whether or not I let you use it at all after this. Your cooperation during these next few minutes will probably play a major part in that decision, so keep that in mind.”

"You weren’t doing your job!" Leah shouts, fighting Sylvie’s grip. "I drifted with your person, just like you asked me to."

"And possibly gave her some kind of brainwashing-mental virus thing. Thanks." Sylvie leans down close, her voice going dangerously quiet. "I did not want to come help you out. I didn’t like the idea of anyone using my tech at all, and I certainly didn’t want to come out of hiding and alert some very powerful people that I’m still alive for a housewife with a sob story. I’m here because my teammates thought we should come and for no other reason, and if you don’t cooperate, you’re not getting close to that Pons ever again."

**Scene 4**

Katie turns and glares in the direction of the van as the screams continue.

A man comes around the hallway. He’s small and kind of looks like an accountant — he’s holding a kitchen knife with very poor form. “W-who are you! Why are you in my house?”

"Sir, I believe this has been a misunderstanding." Katie pulls out her checkbook, in the process making sure to reveal the handgun under her coat, and begins writing a check for two grand. "Why don’t we just forget anything happened?"

The man blinks. Then he takes the check and looks at the figure. “Uh. Okay. Have a nice day?”

"Captain!" Seiko yells into the comm, noticing something. "I wasn’t wrong. There’s somebody on the roof!" He aims up, seeing if he can get a shot on the shadow, preferably a non-lethal one.

Katie curses, puts her checkbook away, and pulls out her gun. The man in the house raises the knife higher and shakier.

"Sir!" Seiko yells, hoping he can be heard across the street. "There is a wanted criminal on your roof. Put down your knife. We mean you and your family no harm."

"Sir, is there a way I can access your roof?"  Pointing the gun at the ground, Katie subtly rocks forward into a fighting stance.

The man drops the knife to his side. “There’s someone on my goddam roof too? There’s a fire escape around back, but I keep it padlocked to keep the kids off the roof…”

"I need to access it," Katie says.

"Um. Sure." He calls back into the house. "Martin, tell the kids everything’s all right. It’s, uh… the cops." He looks back at Katie very dubiously with the last statement, but shrugs and starts walking towards the back door.

Katie follows him, trying not to look too threatening.

**Scene 5**

Miranda distantly hears people screaming. They sound muffled. She can’t bring herself to move. Is her suit broken? It doesn’t look like it. Still, as she stares at the house she just escaped from her place on the ground, she finds herself paralyzed.

Eleanor finally makes it to Miranda’s side, bending half-over with her hands on her knees. She huffs and puffs for a moment. Then Eleanor kneels next to her friend and pillows Miranda’s head on her lap. “Are you alright?” she asks over the din.

"…What’s going on?" she asks in a quiet voice.

"I-" Eleanor begins, then pauses. "I have no idea. But we need to get you somewhere safe, okay? Can you wiggle your fingers for me?" She takes a look at Miranda’s eyes. Her pupils are dilated and the sclera a bit bloodshot, but that could be due to the drift.

Miranda closes her eyes in concentration, and is able to wiggle her fingers a bit.

Eleanor wheezes in relief. “Good. Let’s see if we can get you to the van, okay?” She props an arm behind Miranda, trying to get her to sit up. Miranda nods absently, her eyes staring off into space. She lets Eleanor lift her up and guide her.

**Scene 6**

Out in the back yard, the padlock has been cut off and the safety gate on the fire escape is open.

Katie holsters her gun and begins climbing the fire escape. She ascends quickly enough to see a woman hiding from Seiko behind a chimney, a pair of binoculars hanging off her belt. Katie is on the opposite side of her from Seiko, so there’s no place she could have hidden from both of them.

Seiko completely ignores Miranda and Eleanor getting to the van, hyper-focused on whoever’s on the roof. Miranda slides silently into the back corner of the van floor, positioning herself so she can see Seiko and whatever’s going outside. She curls into a tight ball and waits for things to be real again.

Katie pulls out her gun again and takes a few shots at the woman’s feet. “Don’t fire yet.  Cover me,” she says to Seiko over the comm.

The woman instinctively ducks out from behind the chimney, then glances back around her shoulder at where Seiko is. After a quick glance between Katie and Seiko, she takes something out of her vest pocket and reaches for her mouth.

Seiko’s seen enough cyanide capsules to be scared, and aims for the arm with the capsule. He nearly misses. This setup isn’t the best, but with a loud noise to further traumatize small children, he strikes the woman’s arm.

Her arm jerks away and the pill bounces off her vest and to the ground. She shouts in pain. Katie holsters her gun and tackles the woman to the ground. The woman attempts to fight back, and fails pretty badly.

Eleanor crouches by Miranda in the van, flinching at the sound of the gunshot. She pats Miranda’s back soothingly.

Katie pins the woman’s injured arm behind her back and twists. “Who sent you?” she yells.

**Scene 7**

Upstairs, Leah starts shaking again at the noise. “What’s going on out there?”

Sylvie winces at Katie’s shouting voice in her ear, then scowls. “If it’s what it sounds like, we just took another damn prisoner.”

"At least it’s not thirteen," Seiko’s voice says over the comm. Down in the van, Miranda cracks a bit of a smile at that.

"Another… I’m a  _prisoner_?!” Leah shouts.

Sylvie rolls her eyes. “No. You’re a possible ally who is currently being restrained for her own good. However, we tend to have a bad track record taking hostile prisoners. It tends to turn out poorly.”

“ _Poorly_?” Leah starts struggling. “Get  _out_! Get out of my house! I’ll find another way to help my daughter, just  _leave my house_!”

"Ms. Mansen,” Seiko says, “perhaps you should inform her she was being watched, probably by the people who attacked her daughter."

Eleanor winces at the shrieks she hears from all sides. “Sylvie, can you hear me? If so, you need to get her to calm down, okay? Tell her that someone is watching her, whatever, but get her to stay in the house.”

Sylvie tightens her grip, easily keeping Leah down. “Much as I would love to drop this whole thing, we’re a little involved here now! And that’s not really my decision to make! So I need you to SHUT UP and stay quiet or I will quiet you!”

Leah starts to yell. “She’s going to kill me to get me to shut up! Someone help!”

Seeing that Katie has the watcher handled, Seiko gets out of the van and starts to run up the stairs.

"I am  _not_  going to kill you!” Sylvie shouts, probably not helping her case.

"Sylvie, threats are not calming!" Eleanor tries not to shout in frustration. "Tell her there are people with guns  _outside_  the house, and that she needs to protect her daughter from  _them_ , not us!”

Sylvie takes her friend’s advice. “There are armed people outside your house right now that my team is taking down and we’re trying to protect you and your daughter from them! You screaming your head off at me is  _not helping_!”

Miranda’s eyes widen a bit as she listens in on Leah’s words. “Wait, your…”  _What was that she said?_  “That’s it. That’s it, that’s it!” She stands suddenly, jumping out the back of the van and running back into the house after Seiko.

"Good, Sylvie, that’s better!" Eleanor says encouragingly. "Now you can—" She’s cut off by Miranda jumping up.

Miranda’s up the stairs faster than she would have thought possible, pushing Sylvie out of the way, grabbing Leah’s hands, and looking her straight in the eye. “This house—” She catches her breath briefly. “The reason why this house feels wrong; it’s not ours! Yours,” she corrects herself. “It’s not yours. Your face is familiar. Deena’s face is familiar. This house isn’t. Don’t you feel it too? Did you see it? This house, in ruins. This isn’t your house, Leah. Something’s not right.”

"What?” Leah says, wide-eyed. “No, this… of course this is my house." A drop of blood.

Sylvie stands close by, ready to grab Leah if Miranda’s not able to hold her down. Or Miranda, if she starts acting up again. “Miranda, are you okay?”

Eleanor follows Miranda’s path up the stairs, albeit more slowly. She sees Leah, wild-eyed and bloody, and Miranda, who’s panting. “So—” Eleanor takes a couple of winded breaths and turns to Miranda, “this was a setup?”

Miranda sees the blood, and ignores the voices of her crew for a moment. Leah needs her right now. “It’s okay,” she hurries. “It’s okay, really! It hurts, I know. Pain and static. Not a fun place. Let’s go away from there. But Leah, we drifted. You know me. And you’ve seen the way I’ve been acting since we drifted, yes?” She falters, a slight twinge of pain in her head. “Do you think I’ve been acting normally?”

Eleanor looks between Miranda and Leah with dawning realization and horror. “Miranda, she— you— she’s been taken by that cult, the one in the news—” The stories she’d steadfastly followed and then simultaneously categorized into ‘Things Eleanor Can’t Think About Right Now’ and ‘You Can’t Change The Past, Eleanor.’

"Listen to her, Leah," Sylvie says, looking intent. "What you and Miranda are experiencing lines up with this theoretical new type of drift, if I’m correct. Something’s off here. I’ve seen bad drifts and been on the wrong side of a few, and this… whatever it is, is something else entirely."

**Scene 8**

The woman on the roof stares passively back at Katie with pure, dogmatic hatred in her eyes.

"Talk, damn you!" Katie says, giving her prisoner’s arm a wrench.

"She was ready to die to protect the information, Captain,” Seiko warns. “She’s not going to talk easy."

"I’ll ask again," says Katie, catching her breath.  "Who sent you? Who do you work for?"

The woman screams in ear-splitting pain. “The Assembly of True Judgment will see you all dissolved to ashes in the blood of the fallen Judges! They will cleanse the wickedness of  _torturers_!” She emphasizes the last word.

—-

Eleanor starts hyperventilating, suddenly overhearing Katie’s prisoner screaming about the Assembly of True Judgment through the earpiece. “Shit, not again…Get— get her out— you have to— oh Lord,” she says, falling to the floor and breathing heavily. She barely manages to stay sitting up.

Seiko goes to Eleanor’s side, trying to help her up and remove her ear piece.

Miranda gestures with her hand at the woman’s words in her ear. At the exact same time, Leah makes the gesture as well and whispers, “Hallowed come the Judges.”

Eleanor sees Miranda and Leah react, and all the blood rushes from her face. Seiko comes up beside her and tries to lead her out of the room and sit her down a bit of the way down the hall.

Miranda starts a bit at Leah’s words. “Oh, fuck me, they’re in your…” She shakes her head. “That’s not important now. That’s not you. I know you. You’re not. Listen, please. Have I been acting st-strangely, in your opinion?”

Leah blinks. “How would I know? I just met us. You. I just met you. …No, you haven’t been acting strangely.”

Sylvie’s expression has gone somewhat queasy at the revelation that cultists are involved. “Miranda. Do you need my help? You’re not exactly in the best state of mind…”

Miranda’s shoulders go slack, and she releases her grip on Leah’s hands. She looks genuinely hurt. “I…” she looks at Sylvie. “Yeah, I… what?”

Sylvie sweeps in quickly, restraining Leah again. “Miranda, why don’t you go see what Eleanor and Seiko are up to? This isn’t the kind of situation you want to be involved in in your state. I can handle it.”

"I… Yeah." She stands slowly. "Yeah, okay, I think that’s a good idea. Thanks, Mansen." Miranda hesitates at the door. "Just… don’t be too hard on her, if you can? She’s… She’s been through a lot." ‘No thanks to me,’ she thinks as she goes to find the others.

Sylvie nods, giving what she hopes is a reassuring smile as Miranda leaves. Then, pinning Leah with her forearm, she reaches up and turns off her comm. Then she leans back down, talking quietly. “Status update: You’re a prisoner now.”

**Scene 9**

Eleanor manages to stay standing as Seiko walks with her, though her legs are wobbly and she’s muttering something about how cults “are everywhere, they get everyone.”

"Mrs. Cartier, did I ever tell you I used to be in a gang? I doubt that surprises you"

Eleanor manages a shaky laugh. “N-not exactly,” she says.

"These are bad times. A lot of us are scared, and there is comfort in groups. Cults, gangs, they offer something we need, they turn us into people we could never be away from that group."

Eleanor laughs again, this time bitterly. “Oh, I know that,” she mutters. “People turn away from their own  _families_  to join those kinds of groups.”

"What groups do, it can feel like an insurmountable force, a tide that sweeps us up, but the individuals are still there. They  _can_  come back.”

"Not if they don’t want to come back," she whispers.

"It’s not about you, if… somebody left to join a cult,” he says. “Look what happened to this city. People get scared. They probably weren’t leaving you. They were leaving something else behind, fear or confusion or doubt."

"Or responsibility, and love and compassion and  _grief, and there’s no excuse_ —” She chokes on her rising shriek, realizing that she’s perilously close to losing it. Eleanor takes a deep, shuddering breath. “Yeah. I get it. But—that doesn’t make it right, you know?” She scrubs a hand across her face. “Doesn’t make it right.”

Miranda wanders out into the hall, spotting Seiko and Eleanor. She starts moving in their direction.

Eleanor glances up, flushing with shame. She had desperately wanted to avoid putting any undue burden on anyone with her petty problems. It’s too late to worry about that now, she supposes. Seiko awkwardly puts an arm over her shoulder and she leans slightly into the comforting touch.

She waves to Miranda, trying out a weak smile. “Hey.”

Miranda hesitates a few steps away from them. “Am… Am I interrupting something?”

"Oh God, no," Eleanor says with a slight chuckle. "Please, distract me from being a weepy mess."

"I could threaten to shoot somebody if it would help," Seiko offers.

That gets a real smile from her. “I think you already did that.”

"Yes, but not in the last minute, during which time you’ve been crying. I don’t know many other types of diversions, unless somebody brought Jenga."

Miranda can’t help but smile a bit herself. “Good,” she offers. “If Seiko stopped using threats as a form of comfort, we’d really be screwed.”

"There is nothing to feel embarrassed about though,” Seiko says, then grimaces slightly. “I believe Ms. Mansen helped me reveal a fairly embarrassing side of myself this morning"

"I… may or may not have a deck of cards in the van," Miranda says, trying to move the conversation back to games.

Seiko shrugs. “Do you two know Gin Rummy?”

"Who doesn’t?" Eleanor replies.

"I’ll grab the deck,” he says. “Miranda, is it in your day bag?"

"Actually, there’s something I was hoping to ask you first,” Miranda says, somewhat awkwardly. “Eleanor, would you mind grabbing them?"

"No, of course not," Eleanor says, stepping toward her. "You’re sure you’re feeling alright? You’ve been through a lot today."

"Yeah, I’m…" Miranda catches herself before she can finish the sentence the way she had been planning to. "I’m good for now. I think I just need some distance from… all this."

"I hear you," Eleanor mutters darkly. She shoots her two crewmates a grateful look as she leaves.

**Scene 10**

When she hears the strange invocation from Leah over the comms, the blood drains out of Katie’s face.  She switches off her microphone and leans down to whisper in the woman’s ear, her voice cold and dangerous.

"I desecrate the bodies of your Judges for a living.  No, actually I do it for  _fun_.  I’ve walked on Trespasser and Onibaba.  I tore Scissure’s limb out of its chest.  Because I was bored. If you have a concept of blasphemy, I’m sure I qualify.”

The woman’s eyes flare in stunned surprise. She starts wriggling, less like she wants to get away from an attacker, and more like she’s trying to get out from a pile of unclean trash.

Katie pulls a knife from her coat and lays the dull edge of it at the woman’s throat, just enough to tickle.  “You know, after whatever-it-is your people did to my first officer, I am strongly tempted to just finish this right here. But you’d just love that, wouldn’t you?  And, well, I guess I’m bored.”

The woman spits in Katie’s face. Katie calmly reaches up and wipes the spit off. The two struggle for a few more minutes, then Katie gives the woman’s arm another wrench.

"Why don’t you give me a location? Tell me where I can find your people.  Be responsible for delivering up a blasphemer unto judgment.  Hmmm?  Who knows, maybe then I won’t be so bored."

The woman laughs, somewhat madly. “You don’t need to go looking for cleansing, filth. It will find you. Soon. Here.”

Katie gives the woman’s arm one last twist, then jumps up and switches on her comm. “Seiko, it’s a trap!  Get them out!”

She stoops, picks up the dropped cyanide capsule, and puts it in the woman’s uninjured hand. Then she’s running to the fire escape.

**Scene 11**

"Alright, Mira,” Seiko says once they’re alone. “What did you need to ask?"

"Have I been acting differently since I drifted with Leah?" Miranda looks genuinely curious.

"A bit, but I wouldn’t think much of it. Post-drift is rattling, and there’s no cultist in you. You don’t have a sudden desire to hug Kaiju, do you?"

"Hell no," she spits, waving her hand even as she does it moves through the strange motion again. "Those monsters deserve every hit I can throw at them."

"And having picked up a reflex hand gesture does not hint to a switch in ideology,” he says. “You are still Miranda Cross, and, I believe, perfectly ready to take down a Kaiju single handed if given the opportunity."

"Hand gesture?" She looks down at her hand. "Fuck me, Seiko. I don’t even notice it? What else might I have picked up instinctively?"

"If it isn’t you, you’ll get rid of it."

"Damn right I will." She takes a couple deep breaths. "…But I don’t know how long it will take. And if we’re doing this job… I can’t put you all at risk. So I’m going to ask you to do me a favor, alright?"

"Of course."

She turns around, pulling up the back of her shirt to expose the exoskeleton underneath. “See those red wires? Those are the—”

Eleanor returns with a pack of cards. “I found them,” she says quietly, hoping she’s not interrupting anything. Miranda stops dead with the contraption still exposed, staring in shock at Eleanor.

Eleanor flushes again. “I’m, uh. Going to go check on Deena. Be right back.” She turns to leave.

There’s a click as Sylvie turns her microphone back on from whatever she’s doing upstairs. “No, we’re fine up here. Deena’s good. Stay down there.” Then she turns it off again.

"It’s alright, Mira. I know what to do,” Seiko says. “Eleanor, it’s fine. Come back in. I’ll deal."

"If you’re sure," Eleanor says. "Sorry for interrupting. What’s going on?"

"Just talking through some safety protocol," Seiko says in his best conversation-over voice.

Miranda looks at him. She hopes he actually does understand. “Just taking some… precautions.” She offers. “I don’t know how long it’ll take to get the cult stink out of my brain; want to make sure we’re prepared for if things go sideways.”

One of Eleanor’s eyebrows twitches. She knows there’s more to it than that, and she’s sorrier than ever for butting in. “If you say so. For what it’s worth, though…people pick up gestures, small movements, even phrases for a while after a drift. It’s nothing to be overly concerned about. I know you know that, but…it’s good to keep in mind.”

"Yeah," Miranda says, "Yeah, I know. It’s just… Of all the stupid things to pick up during a drift, I had to get—" She huffs in frustration.

"Think of it this way,” Seiko offers. “It may help you get close to Kaiju cultists to take them down. Now is anybody going to hand me a deck of cards?"

Miranda tries to shoot him an annoyed glare, but she can’t keep it up for long. The smile that crosses her face is as genuine as it is tired. “Yeah, let’s play. Although I’ve got a couple ideas on how to make it more interesting…”

Eleanor passes Seiko the deck, and he starts dealing. “Oh?” she asks slyly. “What did you have in mind?”

"What do I always have in mind, El?" Miranda raises an eyebrow, a mischievous grin on her face.

"I should go check outside!" Seiko says suddenly, seeming to have caught on to Miranda’s suggestion. He did not wear enough layers of clothing to play the kind of game Miranda has in mind. Not to mention undressing in the middle of a job is _anything_ but professional.

Miranda laughs at his startled reaction. “Settle down, Seiko. It was a joke. But we’re getting the crew to play at some point.”

Then her earpiece buzzes. “Wait, did anyone else hear something?”

Eleanor turns her comm back on. “—them out!” she hears Katie yell.

Hearing the dire call of warning Seiko mutters, “Oh, thank God” before launching into panic mode and half-lifting Miranda to get her out. “Alright everyone,” he yells loud enough for Sylvie to hear. “Cultists are coming. Let’s get out!” Miranda lets loose a string of expletives as Seiko carries her out of the house.

"Good idea with the game! But first let’s get out of here in one piece!" Eleanor shouts. Instead of running for the exit however, she heads for the stairs.

**Scene 12**

After Miranda leaves, Leah’s eyes go wide at Sylvie’s threatening words and it looks like she’s about to start screaming again.

"Now, you’re going to stay quiet or I’m going to knock you out," Sylvie says quickly, covering the woman’s mouth so she can’t start yelling. "I’m assuming you want to actually help your daughter, so here’s the new price of the tech: you’re going to tell me everything I want to know about the Assembly. You’re going to tell me about the prophets and what they’ve told you. And most importantly, you’re going to tell me about the ‘cleansing’ that took place in Darwin earlier this week."

Leah’s hand wiggles a little and she says something that sounds an awful lot like “mmfmmf mm mm mmff” but was probably “Hallowed come the Judges.”

Sylvie nods. “Hallowed come the Judges, indeed. Now, are you going to cooperate? Or are you going to leave Deena to die? I want to be very reasonable about this and we’ll talk about this like human beings.”

Leah’s eyes widen in fear and confusion.

Sylvie smirks slightly. “You contacted me. Surely you know my story. Kicked out by the PPDC. Failed out of the Jaeger program. I’ve got no love for Padkeys and if word gets out that I’m alive, they’ll lock me away forever. I took Vulcan Specter offline for nearly a month. Surely the Assembly would respect a feat like that, now wouldn’t they?”

She pauses, overhearing that Eleanor is planning to come upstairs. She flips her comm’s mic on quickly, warning them away, then mutes it again. She doesn’t want to be interrupted in this.

"So,” she says, looking back at Leah. “Consider me interested. I want to know about the prophets, both of them. Why was Darwin chosen? This is the first time the Assembly has used the blood of the Judges, isn’t it? Acts before have all been hostage situations. Why the change in strategy?"

Leah makes the motion and recites the chant again. But behind it her eyes are, if anything, even more confused.

"Do you understand what I’m offering?" Hesitantly, Sylvie starts to lift her hand just slightly to see how Leah reacts.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about! I don’t understand any of it! Darwin… there was that horrible thing there a few days ago, but…"

"Careful, calm down," Sylvie says slowly, letting up the pressure on her restraints a bit. "Okay, can you tell me about the prophets then?"

Before the woman can respond, Sylvie hears the call of warning from Katie. She curses, then gets up off of Leah, pulling her to her feet. “We’ve got company. But I need you to trust me. Don’t tell my team that I’m helping you, okay?”

"The prophets? I don’t know anything about any prophets. Long may they see our fall." Leah blinks in confusion, as Sylvie helps her up.

Sylvie nods. “They’re in your head, somehow. You’ve got information, but you can’t access it. It may even be about the people who did this. We’ll sort this out, but we’ve got to work together okay? Your memories are damaged and you need to know that you can’t trust them. Trust me instead.”

Leah tries to get at something in her pocket, though it doesn’t look like she’s reaching for a gun or anything. It’s more of an unconscious motion, like the hand gesture.

Remembering the capsule, Sylvie gets ready to grab her wrist to see what it is. “Do you know what you just did? Can you do it again?”

"I…" Leah looks at her hand, which is half buried in her pocket. She slowly pulls it out. It’s her wallet.

"Can you open it for me, Leah?" Sylvie asks. "What’s inside?"

In addition to normal wallet stuff and a picture of Deena, there are two photographs in the little wallet frame things. They’re both young people. A boy and a girl. The photographs are edited to looks like icons of saints; there is a Kaiju-blue halo behind each of their heads.

The boy is unfamiliar. The girl… is the babysitter from Leah’s video.

"Long… may they see our fall?" Leah says unhelpfully.

Sylvie feels a cold chill. Finally she whispers back, “Long may they see our fall.”

**Scene 13**

From each side of the street, two silver sedans pull up, boxing Leah’s house and Martin’s house in from either side. And then, from the left side, blue and red lights pull in behind one of the cars.

"Alright everyone!” Seiko says into the comm, Miranda still in his arms. “Head for the back door. They’ve got the road closed. I’ll cover."

Eleanor skids to a halt outside the closed bedroom door. “What about Deena?” she asks, panicked.

"The cops’ll take care of the kid,” he says. “Let’s get the fuck out."

"Dammit," Eleanor says, gritting her teeth. She sprints down the stairs, though, not willing to risk her crew’s safety for a comatose girl.

"What about Leah?" Miranda yells from her position over Seiko’s shoulders. "And Deena, they want something with her, we can’t just leave her!"

"Make up your minds!" Eleanor shouts, frustrated, as she stops halfway down the stairs. Then she realizes something. "Sylvie’s still up there. I’m gonna go back and get her."

Sylvie’s voice comes over the comm as she switches her mic on again. “I’m staying. Go if you have to. I’ll be fine.”

"You can stay,” Seiko says. “Your police record is a good deal shorter than mine. I’ve taken enough stupid risks today. I’m getting out."

"Go!" Eleanor yells at Seiko and Miranda, about-facing and making her way back to the bedroom. She leans on the doorframe for a second, then sits against the bedroom’s outside wall. Sylvie’s keeping an eye on Deena and Leah inside, so she’ll keep watch out here.  There’s no way she would leave a child alone with that cultist woman. No way. In all the background noise, the sirens are loudest. Eleanor fancies that they might match up with the steady "beep-beep-beep" of Deena’s heart monitor.

"Seiko," Katie orders.  "Get Miranda to safety, then get to high ground.  Somewhere out of the way.  I’ll need sniper support."

Seiko nods, though he knows Katie can’t see him. “Captain.”

“ _Please_  don’t start fighting cops without talking to them first!” Miranda yells over the comm.

"What do you think I am, Miranda, insane?" Katie says as she climbs down the fire escape.

"Well, sniper support isn’t usually something you need when you’re going for peaceful solutions!" Miranda hesitates as Seiko sets her on the ground. "And I’ll have you know I only think you’re a little bit insane!"

"Thirteen hostages," Seiko mutters. Miranda punches him lightly in the arm.

Katie lets out an exasperated sigh. “You do realize there are two cars full of cultists about to storm that house, right?  There are plenty of potential targets around here that are not cops.”

"Yeah, but if you want to avoid being arrested, shooting people in front of a bunch of cops isn’t the best way to go about it." Miranda says. "What I’m saying is don’t do anything reckless, Captain."

"Don’t worry," Katie says as she reaches the ground.  "We’ll be fine."

Miranda sighs this time. “Alright then, I guess Seiko and I will just be over here… per usual.” She lifts a fist half-heartedly. “Go bridge crew.”

Seiko looks around to make sure nobody else on crew can see and gives her a fist bump. Miranda’s face lights up, and in her excitement, she throws her arms around Seiko’s shoulders, pulls him down, and kisses him on the cheek.

 


	5. Session #15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The oddness surrounding Leah’s situation continues to deepen. A cult is involved, and they’re moving in. Along with the cops. The group is scattered and divided, Leah can’t be trusted, Miranda still has a cult in her head, nobody knows whose house this even is, and some of the party are keeping secrets.
> 
> Game on.

**Scene 1**

Sylvie takes a moment to snap a picture of Leah’s wallet with her phone so that Vee can access it if something goes wrong.  _Don’t think about that right now…_  Then she turns to the woman, looking at her earnestly.

"Leah, I believe that you’re not a part of what they’re doing, and that you and your daughter are the victims here. I’m going to try to help you, but I need you to trust me, okay? I’ve got a plan… and it’s probably stupid and might get us all killed, but I think it’s our best shot."

She flips her comm’s microphone back on. “Did the rest of you make it out okay? All four of you are safe?”

As she speaks there is a thump over the comm that sounds a bit like somebody letting a small woman in an exoskeleton fall very heavily in surprise.

Katie is crouched behind the house across the street.  “I’ll be fine for now, Syl.  Seiko and I can cover you if you need it.”

"No, go ahead and get out of here," Sylvie says, heart already starting to pound in her ears. "I can handle this. I’ve got an idea."

"I’m outside your room, watching the front door," says Eleanor. "You sure you don’t want backup?"

Sylvie’s eyes go wide, and she rushes to the door, yanking it open. “Eleanor! You’ve got to get out of here! What are you doing?”

Eleanor stands and aims an incredulous frown at Sylvie. “You seriously thought we were just going to leave you alone in here with a  _cultist_? Nuh-uh. No way.”

Sylvie grabs Eleanor by the shoulder and pulls her into the room, pushing the door shut behind her. “She’s not a cultist, I’m pretty sure. She and Deena are the victims here. Something’s been done to both of them and I’ve got a plan to figure out what it is.”

At this, Eleanor’s eyes widen. “Okay, I’m listening,” she says tentatively. “What’s the plan?”

Sylvie takes a deep breath, running a hand through her ponytail. She has a feeling this is going to sound crazier out loud than it did in her head. And it sounded pretty crazy in her head already.

"I’m…" She swallows. "I’m going to join a cult."

—-

"Don’t sneak up on- You surprised- I-" Seiko stutters out after dropping Miranda, flustered by the sudden kiss. "Don’t do that," he finally says.

Miranda’s eyes widen as she realizes what she just did. “I- oh god, I…” Her face is bright red. “Adrenaline… brain… not thinking- sorry, not… sorry!”

Seiko sighs. “I am sure it wasn’t an easy drift. Let’s just get you away from here so I can go back and make sure Ms. Mansen isn’t going to break anything important.” He winces at Sylvie’s shouting in his ear. “Like, for example, Ms. Cartier.”

"Are they okay?" Miranda looks up at Seiko. "Are  _you_  okay? Your face is red.”

Seiko turns his comm onto listen only. “Ms. Cross? Are you… is your memory alright?”

"I think so?" Miranda says looking confused. "Why, is there something I’m forgetting?" She sees him fiddle with his comm. "Oh, right." She switches her comm from off to listen mode as well.

He frowns as he hears Sylvie’s  _plan_. “Okay Mira. It looks like Mansen has decided to start breaking things after all, but… your memory is…” He pauses. “Be careful and don’t move.”

"A…alright then. Just be careful. And don’t let Mansen break anything."

"Too late," Seiko tells her, taking off sprinting. As he runs, he switches his comm back on.

**Scene 2**

"Y-you’re kidding, right?!" Eleanor hisses, shoulders shaking with the effort not to burst out in hysterical giggles.

"No, I’m not." Sylvie says, not making eye contact as she glances out the window at the scene below. One of the cult cars opens up. A man and a woman, both with pump-action shotguns, get out of the back seat. One’s facing the cops, the other is facing the house.

"If I’m going to fix whatever happened to Leah and Deena,” Sylvie continues, “I need to know what they did and how they did it. And that means I need to be on the inside of this thing. I think I can pull this off."

One of Eleanor’s eyes twitches. “You’re going in on the inside. With no backup. Or training.  _You_.” She seems to be trying to parse the words, as if she doesn’t understand the way they’re strung together.

"Ms. Mansen,” Seiko says through the comm, “I would like to put in a vote for not joining the cultists and perhaps, you know, killing them instead."

"Let’s not forget the cops are here," says Katie.  "Syl, what is your plan?"

Miranda switches her comm on as well. “Mansen, did you seriously just propose going undercover into a group of tentacultists alone?”

"We don’t know enough about them!" Sylvie says quickly. "We need info desperately and I can get it! I can pull this off, really. But I need to know that you all are safe and out of the way. Trust me, please."

"You have given me no reason to, but I suppose it’s your neck,” Seiko says flatly. “Assuming any cultists make it out of here. Tell me, Ms. Mansen, are you hoping the police die so you can get your information? Also, I doubt they’d let you bring Vee."

"Of course we trust  _you_ ,” Eleanor says quickly, too quickly. “But you can’t pull anything off if you’ve been brainwashed! And you have no idea what they’re—” she gulps—“what they’re capable of.”

Sylvie looks down nervously at the scene below again. The other cult car opens up; these two cultists have nightsticks drawn. One of them starts advancing on each house. The cops still haven’t responded.

"Well,” she says, turning back to Eleanor. “It’s not like we’ve got a lot of other options. Besides, I’m not going in as a potential brainwashed groupie. I’m going in as a highly-qualified drift technology expert with ample reason to want to help a group planning to hurt the PPDC. I won’t even have to lie… much."

Eleanor stiffens. “You’re going in as  _yourself_?” she asks disbelievingly. “Can’t you see how much danger that puts you in? And us? We’ve got bugs, cameras…we can break into their stronghold, if that’s what everyone wants, but…”

"How are you planning to keep in touch?" Katie asks.

"Vee has remote access to the files and GPS on my phone. She can track my location at least. She’ll let you in, Katie. Other than that…” Sylvie swallows nervously. “I’ll figure it out as I go."

Miranda peeks out from where Seiko dropped her, trying to catch a glimpse of what’s going on with the new arrivals. If she’s gonna be stuck outside, the least she can do is keep watch. “Hey guys? I’m counting at least four cultists, two with guns. Two are headed your way, one’s going for the cops, and one’s going to the house Katie was in. Cops aren’t moving.”

Eleanor curses. “Sylvie, we’ve gotta get out of here. Grab them too, if you have to, but we have to run.” She shoots a pleading look at her crewmate, and tries not to look at the too-still child hooked up to the heart monitor.

Sylvie looks at Eleanor, giving her friend a hard look. “I’m staying. I can do this.”

Eleanor’s hands curl into fists. She’s seriously tempted to fight Sylvie for her own good, even if that means she might lose. Even if losing means something worse than death, once the rest of the cultists arrive.

"I… Mansen. What’s your exit strategy?" Miranda asks, rubbing a hand along her face.

Sylvie blinks. “Uh… I guess I’ll figure that one out on the fly too… They’re at the house, guys. It’s too late to run.”

"El, I don’t think you’re talking her down from this," Katie says.  "Get the hell out of there."

"Hide somewhere if you need to, Eleanor," Sylvie says. "I’ll keep them distracted."

Eleanor’s face goes slack. She shoots a blank look of betrayal toward Sylvie, bites her tongue  _hard_ , and runs like hell. She doesn’t look back. Finding a window on the side of the house away from the cultists, she opens it and jumps down, rolling behind a tree. Her ankles will feel the impact later, but right now the adrenaline spike keeps her going until she manages to limp away from the house.

"Vee and I will keep tabs on you,” Miranda says. “You need extraction, send out a burst of junk data. We’ll find you, and we’ll get you out." She’s quiet for a long time. "Don’t let them in your head, Mansen. We need that brain of yours."

Sylvie breathes a sigh of relief as Eleanor leaves, glad she doesn’t have to worry about her friend going in with her. “Understood. And I won’t. Trust me, I doubt they could get into my head even if if I wanted them to.” She eyes the door nervously, trying to steel herself for what’s about to come. “I’m taking out my comm. One last thing? Don’t… uh. Maybe don’t tell Zhu immediately what I’ve done?”

"I’ll tell her you got mad at me and wanted to take some time off," Seiko supplies. "It’s believable."

"I’d like to maybe try to explain this fiasco to her myself if I get the chance…” Sylvie says. “Thanks."

Miranda sighs. “We don’t have to report back to her for another week. Finish up quickly and we won’t have to.”

Sylvie nods. “Will do. Comm coming out. I’ll see you all on the other side.” _Hopefully_ , she thinks silently. She takes her comm out of her ear and quickly stashes it in one of the hidden pockets of her duffle bag, silently praying that she can pull this off.

**Scene 3**

"Miri, El, are you somewhere safe?’ Katie asks.  She’s fairly certain Seiko is already.

Eleanor says nothing, only panting as she limps over to Seiko.

He finds her quickly. “Sorry, Ms. Cartier. I know this is a less than pleasant turn of events for you.”

Eleanor gives Seiko a pleading look. “Let’s…not talk about this…right now,” she gasps out.

Seiko leans in trying to get a view on why the cops aren’t taking any action.

Taking a few deep breaths, Eleanor turns to Seiko. “The guns are in the van, right?”

"Yes, but don’t bother running for them,” he says. “You can use one of mine if you want to be armed."

Eleanor shakes her head. “Not what I meant. Don’t want the cult to get them. Can we lead them away from Sylvie and Leah, or should we make a break for it?”

"I want to see how things shake out with the police. I’m going to try and take out one of the cars while I’m at it."

Eleanor nods. “I may ask to borrow a gun. Mind if I follow you, or do you need to set up—” she glances up to the roof of the next house over—“somewhere higher?”

"Let’s leave this between the cult and the police if we can," Katie says, watching the scene from her own vantage on the other side of the street.

"Alright," Eleanor says, unable to keep the disappointment out of her voice. She knows, rationally, that this is the best plan of action, but she’d really wanted to cause some damage to those Kaiju-worshipping sickos before they got out of there. All the same, she doesn’t want to endanger Katie, or Sylvie, or Deena, or any of the others. So she stays put.

—-

Upstairs, Sylvie turns to Leah. “Leah, you need to know that you’re not thinking straight right now. They’ve done something to your head and possibly to Deena. I need you to follow my lead, and help me make this work. Can you do that?”

Leah shakes her head. “I’ll try. Who did this to Deena?”

"That’s what we’re going to find out, alright?" Sylvie says, trying to sound calming. "Just try to stay quiet and let me do the talking, okay?"

"Okay."

—-

"I don’t know that staying out of this is a good idea," Miranda offers, still sitting where Seiko dropped her. She’s behind the house directly south of Leah’s, across the street from Katie’s hiding spot. She’s fairly sure Seiko and Eleanor are behind Leah’s own house. "The cops are outnumbered, and the cultists are looking for us. They saw us talking with Leah; they aren’t going to let us go without a fight."

"Good luck with that if the cops have them pinned down," Katie says.  "That’s why I want you and El to get out.  Seiko and I will cover you if we have to."

"I’m not completely helpless, you know. I can hold my own in a fight." Miranda tries not to think back to this morning’s events. "Especially against a bunch of overzealous sushi lovers like these idiots."

"Miri, I’m worried about your mental health, not your fighting ability," says Katie.  "Seiko, have you gotten to high ground yet?"

“We’re still on the ground,” he answers. “There’s not a clear way up to a roof.”

One of the cultists with a nightstick warily moves over to the van, tests the back door, finds it open, and hops in. Meanwhile, another of the cultists with a shotgun lines up on the cop car and fires. Both cops dodge out of the way, but the cultists think they’re down for the count.

Miranda groans. “Aaand now they’re in the van. Fantastic. Still want to just sit back and wait?”

"Are they using  _our guns_?” Eleanor says, voice rising.

"Not yet, but I doubt they’ll feel bad about it if they do,” Miranda says. “And how many times do I have to tell you people that I’m  _fine_?”

"You are not fine Miranda," Seiko growls into his comm. "You’re… forgetting things and I’m not having you forgetting whose aiming a rifle at you."

"Just because Miranda…and I…are emotionally compromised, doesn’t mean we aren’t functional," Eleanor argues. "But I understand if you want someone else to take point. I’m a bit useless where I am right now, anyway."

Seiko turns to her, giving her a stern look. “Your getting upset is not the same thing as her possible brain damage. Mira is staying out of this fight.”

"I can still remember the important things," Miranda protests. "I appreciate your concern, but they are in the  _van_. Where all of m-our  _stuff_  is.”

**Scene 4**

The cops pop their heads up carefully. The gunman that shot them has written them off for dead and turned around. The driver of the cop car hits the gas pedal. The gunman sees them just a little too late, and doesn’t dive out of the way fast enough to avoid getting clipped. The second nightstick cultist sees the car coming and runs to the sidewalk to avoid getting hit.

Using the commotion as a cover, Katie opens the back door of the house, hoping the occupants don’t get in her way.  If one of the cultists goes in there, she wants to be able to stop them. The homeowner, Martin, is inside. He’s got his knife up again. “I - I don’t know who you are, but you’re not a cop. I appreciate the check. Please get out of my house. Did you just kill someone on my roof?”

"Sir, there are six armed cultists outside,” she says. “At least one is about to walk in your front door.  Please let me handle it."

It takes a bit more cajoling and pleading from Katie, but she manages to convince him she’s right. Martin puts down the knife. “You’re not a cop, but… okay, sure.”

She nods gratefully, then gets ready to attack anyone who comes in.

—-

As Sylvie hears the sounds of commotion outside, she opens her laptop, uploading all the compromising data to her cloud field for Vee, then disconnecting and hiding the cloud source. Unless someone goes digging back through her program files and then hacking her password to connect, no one should be able to find anything out of the ordinary if they search it.

Leah just watches in bewilderment.

As soon as she’s finished, Sylvie stands, stashing her tech away in the duffle. With a quick motion, she heads back to the window, opening it this time and leaning out to get a better look at the situation. Thankfully no one seems to be looking upward at the second story of the house.

Through all of the chaos, she notices something, her breath catching as one of the cultists carrying a shotgun heads for the entry to Leah’s house.

She takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself.  _Now or never, Sylvie._

—-

Seiko leans around the house, assessing the scene, trying to decide what to do. It wouldn’t look good to shoot somebody in front of cops, not until things get more desperate at least, but there’s no harm in slowing things down a bit. Not being on a boat seems to make aiming a good deal more simple and he hits the front left tire of the southernmost cult car with ease.

He then quickly steps back behind the house and hopes whoever actually lives here’s a cultist. They might be losing some siding.

With big moves by both Seiko and the cops, all attention is currently on the street. Miranda takes this opportunity to head towards the back of the house. She’s fine, and she’s not going to sit back and watch their van get ransacked when there’s something she can do to stop it.

She manages to get all the way around the houses and open up the back of the van hopping in before anyone can stop her. The cultist is so engrossed in sifting through their things that she’s completely unaware of Miranda’s presence.

Seiko notices her, but lets her go. He’s busy and, after all, Miranda is an adult.  _Over five years older in fact,_  he thinks.  _Not that she knows that._

Miranda winds up for a punch as she jumps into the van, but catches herself as she registers the face of the cultist from the side. The woman crouched on the floor of her van is Lucy Wells, a coworker of hers from K-Sci division of the PPDC. They’d had lunch together a few times, which was more than she’d interacted with most of the Shatterdome.

"Guys," Eleanor says in a stage whisper. "What’s going on in the van? Are we still compromised?"

Miranda says nothing. Any sound would alert Lucy to her presence.

White noise meets Eleanor’s question. That can’t be good. “Aw, great,” she says under her breath. “Okay, guys, I’m gonna head around the south side of Leah’s house.” She turns to Seiko. “Can I borrow a gun, just in case?”

Seiko nods and hands her the one strapped to his leg. She smiles in thanks, flips the safety off, and then creeps around the house as quietly as she can. She hugs the wall on the off chance that someone is waiting to meet her.

Peeking around the corner, Eleanor sees a large man in all black creeping toward Leah’s front door. She curses as quietly as she can. “There’s someone breaking into Leah’s house,” she hisses into the comm. “And there’s definitely someone still in the van. Is there any way to let Sylvie know that a  _gunman_  is greeting her, not some friendly neighborhood  _proselytizer_?”

Then she realizes. “Wait,” she says, keeping her voice quieter now. “Wasn’t Miranda headed to the van, too?” She ducks back around the side of the house, trying to remain unnoticed for as long as possible. “I don’t think I can do much else from here,” she says, trying to be optimistic and failing miserably.

**Scene 5**

The cultist who was hit limps along after the squad car, shouting and firing his shotgun. His shot bashes in the rear window of the car. The cops stop the car and get out, guns drawn, bearing down on the guy who’s shooting at them.

Katie waits just inside the door of Martin’s house, tense.

The second nightstick-weilding cultist barges into the house and runs smack-dab into her standing there smirking. He takes a swing at her and she steps aside easily, countering with a jab to his neck. The cultist starts choking and his eyes bulge a little bit. Martin whistles appreciatively.

Katie counterattacks with a kick at the cultist’s knee.  He twists in time to take it in the shin, and stumbles back. He takes another wild nightstick swing at Katie, staggering. His leg slows him down, though, and his swing goes wild once again.

—-

Eleanor, having seen the cultist move into the house, hears some thumping noises and masculine grunts of pain over the comm. She grins. Pointing her gun at the ground, she quickly makes her way over to the van. She crouches in the small space between the vehicle and the house. That should provide her enough cover to keep safe for a few minutes.

She stands, making sure not to bump the van itself, peeks in the front window, and ducks back down.

A trickle of sweat runs down her cheek. Thankfully, it appears she wasn’t spotted. And even more thankfully, Miranda seems to be unharmed. Though she’s irked that that strange woman in the van is rifling through her things, she’s even more confused about  _why_  she’s doing so. Why hadn’t the cultist just grabbed the weapons and run? What was she after?

Eleanor cups her hand around her mouth. “Miranda’s alright for the time being,” she whispers, hoping her voice carries well enough to be heard over the comm. “There’s a woman in the van with her, and she seems to be looking for something specific. I don’t like it.”

Lucy still doesn’t notice Miranda crouching behind her or Eleanor’s quick peek. She digs around the back of the van, taking one of the guns for herself and rooting through everything else back there.

Miranda takes a breath, finally reaching a decision. She pulls the scarf from around her neck, wrapping it carefully around her face and head.  _Hadn’t thought I’d be needing to do this again,_  she thinks to herself as she lets her mind settle back into old habits.

She takes a few moments to watch Lucy, studying how she moves, how her clothing is designed, how her hair moves when she shifts her weight. When she’s got a good handle on it Miranda steps forward, moving in sync with Lucy as her hands slide in and out of various pockets. When she pulls away Lucy has been relieved of one wallet and one mysterious circular piece of tech, and is still completely unaware of Miranda’s presence.

Lucy, now armed and having done whatever it is she was going to do in the van, heads up to the front, gets in the driver’s seat, and starts messing with something under the dashboard.

Miranda decides to stop her before she steals or blows up the van. She silently curses the fact that the rest of the crew didn’t think it important enough to make sure their escape route was secure. She’s seen Lucy fighting in the Combat Room before though, and knows that the woman is at least as good as Sylvie.

She won’t be making the same mistake twice.  _Hadn’t thought I’d be needing to do this, either._

Miranda reaches behind her back, gripping where she knew the blue power inhibitors sat and giving them a yank. They come free, and her skin buzzes with the energy of the exoskeleton. She hadn’t fully figured out the tech in the neural connectors, but with this much power she can vaguely feel the fabric of her shirt and coat. The power won’t last long, though; if she wants to make it count, she’ll have to work fast.

Lucy hesitates a bit, tilting her head at the sound of the exoskeleton revving. As she lets her hands slide from beneath the dashboard, Miranda swings her left arm around the side of the seat, pinning both of Lucy’s arms in place. Before she can resist, Miranda reaches behind her again and pulls a single red wire. All power to her left arm goes dead, freezing the limb in place and making it extremely difficult to move.

As her captive struggles, Miranda breaks her silence. “And what is it you think you’re doing, Lucy?” she asks, her Australian accent replaced with a hint of Spanish.

Eleanor pops up over the nose of the car. “Lucy?” she says disbelievingly. “Not you, too?” She grips her gun a little more tightly, glaring daggers at the shadowy woman through the windshield.

Lucy stiffens. “What… what the hell is going on here?”

—-

Hearing that Miranda and Eleanor seem to have the van situation handled, Seiko turns back to the outside cult fight. He decides that the cops would probably be okay with him aiming for something a little less synthetic, but as murder tends to involve a good deal of paperwork, goes for the leg instead. Thankfully the shot hits. He smiles; he has been having good luck aiming for limbs today.

Glancing back at the car he hit earlier, he sees the driver still sitting, unaware that his car has been hit. As he watches, the cultist with the shotgun aims at one of the cops but misses. The cops notice that their quarry has been injured — they’re pragmatic enough to not question it for the time being. They know their quarry is armed, but they still would rather not risk shooting him, so one of the cops tackles the cultist.

Ordinarily, the cop wouldn’t have managed it, but the cultist’s injured leg slows him down. The policeman has him in a pin. And then the other cop gets him cuffed.

**Scene 6**

Sylvie goes over to the window and opens it, leaning out to take a quick look at where everyone is. She sees a man who definitely doesn’t look like a cop on the front steps of Leah’s porch and feels her heart start to race. Turning back to Leah, she grits her teeth.

"I’m sorry about this, Leah," she says. "This is probably not the best thing for you right now, but you’ve got information embedded in your head and I need all the help I can get." She holds her hand up, ready to study whatever Leah does to respond. "Hallowed come the Judges."

Leah performs the hand motion and whispers “May they crush all sin.”

“That’s when you make that hand motion?” Sylvie asks, trying to mimic it.

Leah nods, looking confused at her own words. “The Blessing of Acid.”

"And the Prophets, long may they see our fall?" Sylvie tries, not sure she’s getting the wording right on that one.

Leah reaches for her wallet.

Sylvie nods, watching her. “The Prophets?” She prompts again. Perhaps one has to see the pictures of the prophets before saying that one.

Leah touches her eyes with two fingers, then the pictures of the Prophets with those fingers.

Seeing as Leah seems to be finished, Sylvie nods, committing the phrases and gestures to memory. Hopefully learning the lingo will be enough to get the cultists to hesitate. “Stay here,” she tells Leah, then heads out into the hallway to greet whoever it is who comes through the door. Despite her order, Leah follows her out.

The cultist with the shotgun reaches the top of the stairs just as they emerge, looking up to find Sylvie and Leah. Sylvie notices he’s picked up a duffle bag from inside the house somewhere. He gestures with the shotgun. “Hey. You. Hands above your head, back against the wall.”

Sylvie throws her hands up immediately, backing up in as non-threatening a way as she can. “Hello, sir. My name is Sylvia Mansen.” Then, trying her best to mimic Leah, she performs the Blessing of Acid. “Hallowed come the Judges.”

"May they crush all sin." He squints and spits on the floor. "Goddam neophyte. You’re probably the one that cocked this operation up, aren’t ‘cha?"

Sylvie moves her hand back up beside her head. “Actually, I’m not a member.” She gives him a very knowing look. “Yet. I am however a very interested party with some possibly valuable skills. I take it you don’t recognize me then?”

He squints again. “Wait, what was that name? You’re the Mansen gal?” He chuckles. “Really? Valuable skills, eh? What is it exactly that you think we brought you in for?”

Sylvie hesitates. “Brought me in?”

"Y’didn’t find your way here by followin’ a divinin’ rod, didja? The classified. Prophets, I almost wish you  _were_  just some neophyte.”

Sylvie glances at Leah nervously, wondering if she’s been set up. “I was under the impression that Ms. Moretz was… not fully aware of her involvement with the Assembly. In fact, I thought she might under the influence of some rather interesting drift technology. Is this not the case, then?”

"And your friends outside? The ones shooting up faithful members of the Assembly in good standing?"

"We’re not exactly the most legal of groups. They defend themselves when they have to," Sylvie says, somewhat nervously. "And they don’t share my interest in the Assembly. This is just a job to them."

"Tch. Sure,” he says, giving her a disbelieving look. “Sister Leah? Is Mansen on the up and up? Codephrase: Infinite Benediction."

Leah’s head snaps up. Sylvie tenses, realizing she could be in quite a bit of trouble right now if Leah actually is a cultist.

"Is she going to help Deena?" Leah asks.

The cultist shakes his head. “Brother Berroz told them that trigger would go to crap, and nobody listened. Goddam. Alright, Mansen, come with me.”

Sylvie tries not to show her relief, and nods. She kneels down, grabbing her duffle bag and slinging it over her shoulder. “Where are we headed?”

"The compound. Come on, then,” he says. “Sister Leah, come along too."

"What about the girl?" Sylvie asks.

"I can’t leave Deena," Leah says pleadingly.

The cultist rolls his eyes. “The girl will still be here. We’ve made well sure her father will be in Darwin for a while.” He looks at Sylvie, tipping his head to indicate Leah. “It was a good trick finding her birth mother in the Assembly, sure, but now that we have you we can pick her up at our leisure. Once the cops have been diverted, anyhow. Sister Leah, come along now.”

Sylvie feels bad for Leah’s distress, but stays quiet. The man is probably right; there’s no way to get the girl out now, and she certainly doesn’t want to cause any trouble. So far, her plan seems to be working and she needs to seem cooperative.

Leah drags her feet. The cultist walks over and takes her by the arm, lowering his gun. “Come on now, Sister. Not really your kid. We’ll get that out of your head soon enough, don’t you worry.”

Sylvie frowns, walking with the man. “Probably should have seen that coming. Are you sure she’ll be okay? Progamming maternal instincts into someone tends to make people uncooperative. Who is Deena, then? Really?”

"Tch. Do I look like the goddam welcome wagon? Save it for the compound, Mansen."

"Just trying to figure out what I’m going to be working with here, sir," Sylvie says, somewhat grumpily. "Her father was involved in Darwin then? Was he the reason behind the strike? I’ve been wondering why the Assembly would break their pattern of operations."

The cultist says nothing and heads downstairs, walking towards the front door. Sylvie pouts slightly at being ignored, but falls silent again. He pulls out his phone and sends a text. As he receives an answer from one of the drivers, he nods. “Alright. Mansen, stay on me. Unless you know how to call off those nutjobs you hired.”

"I probably can," Sylvie says, raising an eyebrow. "Can your people handle the cops though? I don’t have much desire for me or my colleagues to be going to prison."

"Don’t worry about that," he says.

It’s not exactly the reassurance that she’s looking for, but it’ll have to do. She needs to convince the Assembly that she’s on their side for this to work. Taking a steadying breath, she steps out of the house, running out after him into the open.

Her eyes go wide as she sees Eleanor and Miranda at the van, and calls out to them. “Stand down, both of you. Get the other two to disengage as well!”

"What did you do to our van?" Miranda says quietly to Lucy. She doesn’t hear Sylvie’s yelling through the car, but has the sense to ask her questions quickly. "And where are your people located? And why are you working for them, and what’s going on in this house, and how does your indoctrination work?" As she lists off her questions, she doesn’t notice her hand twisting into the Blessing of Acid.

"You ain’t our boss!" Eleanor shouts at Sylvie in a thick Southern drawl.

Seiko raises his gun, and, trying to pass a very wide shot for bad aim, starts yelling, picking up Eleanor’s act. “Would have never taken your money if I’d known you were working with them! Get out of here before I shoot you for real!”

"Judges take you both," Leah sneers.

Sylvie’s cultist gets halfway to the south car, then pulls out his cellphone. “What the  _hell_  are you doing? Your tires are blown, you moron!”

Sylvie ducks at Seiko’s shot, eyes going wide and hoping that he’s missing her on purpose. Grabbing her duffle, she sprints over to her cultist handler. “My mistake!” She shouts. “Seems they don’t appreciate my changed allegiance! We need to get out of here!”

The handler growls. “To the other car. Quickly.”

"After you!" Sylvie says, clutching her bag to her chest.

Seiko continues yelling incoherent insults, but does his best to make it clear to Sylvie he’s faking. “Bloody cultists! I should have known when you told me to make a kill shot! You’re all killers!”

The north driver revs her engine as Sylvie, Leah, and the handler sprint for her car. They duck in quickly, and in moments are driving away from the scene as speedily as possible.

Eleanor joins Seiko in screaming incoherently at the cultists until they drive off with Sylvie. She notices that they didn’t take the little girl, though, which…doesn’t surprise her, really. “The girl’s still in the house,” she says into the comm. “Don’t let anyone fire into the upper floor. I’ll be back in a sec.”

With that, she jogs around to the back of the van, yanks the door open, and hops in, finding Miranda still in the middle of her interrogation.

Seiko climbs into the van right after her. “Captain,” he mutters into the comm, “Mansen’s gone. We need to get out of here. Come get in the van.”

"Answer. My. Questions." Miranda says darkly, bringing her right hand around and tangling it in Lucy’s hair.

Eleanor quickly moves to help. Retrieving a length of paracord in one of their bags, she quickly ties Lucy’s hands behind her back. She locks the knot in place. “Now,” she says, “do you wanna answer our questions?”

 


	6. Session #16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Leah situation has gotten more complicated. Sylvie has hatched a plan to infiltrate the Assembly of True Judgment, Leah’s connection to Deena is in doubt, and there are still cultists to deal with — one of whom is a Shatterdome employee. The cops are cleaning up the rest of the mess, dragging their newly cuffed cultist prisoner to their car, Katie’s in the middle of a fight with his companion, and Seiko, Eleanor, and Miranda are trying to interrogate their van’s intruder, Lucy Wells. How deep does the rot go? And how far are the Scroungers willing to go to flush it out?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cultist Lucy Wells was played by guest Scrounger, Megan (tinandpewterstrength.tumblr.com)!

**Scene 1**

Miranda turns her head to look at Seiko and Eleanor as they enter. “Wait, wh-” she stops, noticing her accent slipping. “What about De- the girl? We’re not just going to leave her, are we?”

Eleanor’s lips twist. “We ain’t got a choice at the moment,” she says, still in her Southern accent. “The place is crawlin’ with cops, and the girl’s safer with them than with the crazies.”

Seiko nods in agreement. “We can’t take her away from that equipment, Mira. We could kill her. We don’t know what they did.”

Miranda’s eyes grow panicked for a moment, but she forces the emotions down.  _Those aren’t mine,_  she assures herself. “Al…Alright, just… no, it’s fine. I’m fine.”

"We can check on her later if you’d like,” he offers. “They’ll probably get her to a proper hospital"

Eleanor nods. “I’d feel better if we checked on the lil’ one, too.”

Miranda closes her eyes, nodding more quickly than she would have liked to.

Eleanor reaches over and puts a hand on Miranda’s shoulder. “Now, we gotta focus on what’s in front of our faces, ‘kay hun?” She gestures with her head toward their new hostage.

Miranda takes a deep breath and opens her eyes. Looking over at Eleanor, she glances ever so slightly at the hand on her shoulder. Smiling appreciatively, she nods again. Her attention drawn to the hostage, and she suddenly realizes that her arm is still wrapped around Lucy’s chest.  _Well, that’s gonna be a tough one to explain._ She weighs her options, trying to decide whether to ignore the problem or try to finesse the wire back into place without anyone noticing.

Eleanor lets her hand drop as she turns to the strange woman. Lucy struggles against Miranda’s restraining arm, trying to shove her away. “I’m not going to answer your questions,” she growls. “Judges take you all.” She attempts to make the Blessing of Acid, but with her hands tied at the wrist, it comes out twisted.

Miranda’s pinky bends down to her palm, but with her arm immobilized, that’s all the subliminal lizard worshipping she can muster. Eleanor’s lips purse when she sees the motion. How dare this— this  _cultist_ — try to manipulate her friend!

"Captain, get in here," Seiko shouts, hearing the sounds of fighting from Katie’s comm still. Noticing something is wrong with Miranda, he tries to get her to move. Hoping Eleanor doesn’t notice, he subtly tries to peel Miranda’s arm away. It doesn’t move.

Miranda gives Seiko a pointed look. “I’m not letting go until she’s tied down properly,” she whispers.

He checks over Eleanor’s knots, seeing that they might not hold without Miranda holding Lucy down, then goes to see if he can find anything to reinforce them. Lucy snarls something incoherent and tries to kick Seiko as he moves past her. Dodging the kick easily, he slips into the back and looks to see if there’s any proper rope around.

Miranda leans closer to Lucy’s ear, slipping back into her accent effortlessly. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you’re not exactly in a position to be making any bold moves. But on the bright side, you have caught me at the end of a  _very_  long day, and I am  _very_  tired. Not tired enough to let you go of course - honestly keeping you here isn’t all that hard; I could probably do this all day - but it does mean that if you cooperate, you might be able to convince me that letting you go would be less trouble than hiding your corpse. A good way to start would be answering my questions, beginning with what you were doing to our van just now, and what it was you were so eagerly hunting for beforehand.”

Lucy’s mouth twists into a sneer as she settles into the seat, no longer struggling against Miranda’s arm. She’s getting comfortable for the long haul, but she says nothing.

**Scene 2**

The cultist in the house notices that Katie is a pretty tough customer, but that the shaky homeowner with the kitchen knife is probably an easier target. He takes a swipe at Martin, who is just nimble enough to get out of the way but in doing so, unfortunately drops his knife. Martin cries out, as he dodges back, “Steve!  _Help_!”

"Hey, big guy!" Katie says, "I’m over here!"  She shoves the cultist in the back, making him stumble forward.

The cultist spins around to face her, pure rage in his eyes.

Katie looks out the door to check on the cops’ progress. They seem to be finishing up with their arrest, which means she and the remaining members of the team need to get out of here soon before they’re next. The car carrying Sylvie is rapidly driving away.

The cultist sneers at Katie and taps his ear. “Looks like we got what we came here for. I’m off the clock, lady. Now? Now it’s just  _fun_.”

Katie smirks.  “Oh, are you enjoying this too?” Not taking her eyes off her opponent, she speaks into the comm. “Seiko, how are things out there?”

**Scene 3**

Eleanor stares frostily at the woman in the front seat. “What exactly are you doing here?”

Lucy squirms a bit under the intensity of Eleanor’s glare, and she cranes her neck to look out the window to see the cultists’ car making a fast exit, Sylvie in the back seat. She laughs quietly and turns back to Eleanor.

Seiko follows her gaze. “Still can’t believe she went over to the cultists,” he mutters. “I thought even  _her_  foolishness had its limits. But instead it turns out she worships the same octopi the rest of you do.”

Eleanor leans in slightly. She scans the woman’s face. “You…got what you came here for, dincha?” she asks. Her suspicions are confirmed by the slight smile she receives. “You were here for the techie.”

There is a glow of triumph in Lucy’s eyes, but she still refuses to speak.

With a nonchalant shrug, Eleanor leans back, hiding her worry for Sylvie. “Well,” she says, glancing to Seiko, “I guess that means that you’re all ours now.” A slow, humorless smile curls her lips.

"And what exactly do you plan to do with me?" Lucy asks, thinking it’s time that she got in some questions of her own. "Are you going to keep me pinned here like an insect until we wither away?"

Eleanor’s smile widens. “It’s interesting that you use that word. ‘Insect.’”

Katie’s voice comes over the comm. “Seiko, how are things out there?”

"Trying to decide whether to carry a hostage or a corpse back home with us captain," Seiko says. He doesn’t raise his voice, but he makes sure Lucy can hear. "Don’t get too caught up in your ‘fun’ we need to get out of here too."

As Seiko talks, he secures a rope from the back of the van around Lucy’s waist, subtly trying to check her for any comm or listening devices. He also casually adjusts his shirt so that the gun at his hip is clearly visible

Eleanor scoffs. “We don’t need to carry the corpse home, we can just drop it off at the river,” she points out. She’s probably enjoying this too much.

Miranda keeps quiet, her arm still applying pressure to Lucy’s chest. She hopes it comes off as intimidating.

"You are as quick to abandon your friends as your enemies," Lucy hisses to Seiko as he searches her. “‘The techie’ as you called her…do you so easily accept that she has seen the Path?"

"Never liked her much,” he says. “Just always underestimated her stupidity, I guess."

"We’re taking you with us, aren’t we?" Miranda offers in a low voice. "Much easier to exchange hostages when you have bargaining chips. And if she really has turned, then I guess that means we have all the hostages. Funny, that." She applies a bit more pressure to her grip. Lucy lets out an involuntary whimper of pain as Miranda’s exoskeleton presses into her sternum.

"Let go, Mira," Seiko mutters in her ear "Before you do more damage."

"Red wire," she whispers as quietly as she can. "The sooner the better."

"Cut it? Attach it? What?"

"Attach," she hisses. Before he can do so however, they’re interrupted by the back door of the van opening.

**Scene 4**

"Oh," Katie says after hearing Seiko’s response.  "Sorry, that’s my ride."  She gives the cultist a wink and darts out the door, getting a head start.

The other cultist growls, swears at Katie, and follows after her, somewhat more slowly. She makes a straight line for the van, but he hangs back, trying to avoid the cops noticing him. He seems to be successful, as the cops remain in their car for the moment.

Thankful the man isn’t right behind her, Katie climbs into the van and shuts the door behind her. “Time to go.”  She sees Lucy pinned in the driver’s seat and frowns.  “Well, once you deal with that.”

Lucy smiles, all teeth and coldness, as she settles back into the driver’s seat Seiko has just tied her to. “Good luck driving away from this mess in a hurry,” she says.

A bit abashed, Seiko quickly undoes the rope feeling this severely undermines his intimidation factor. Trying to regain a bit of it, he talks as he does so. “You should see what we drove away from last week.”

"I never did get all the blood out," Eleanor says mildly.

Lucy is unperturbed by Eleanor’s comment about the blood. She resists when Seiko beings pulling on the rope, attempting to make her stand. “I’ve still got this arm, here, across my chest,” she says, “so where do you think you’re pulling me?”

"Side seat,” he says. “Unless you want to try buddy buckling with the driver, but I try to avoid doing anything illegal."

"Miri, El, stow her in the back somewhere.” Katie orders.

"Seiko," Miranda hisses. "Please." Her voice is a bit more desperate.

"Captain," he mutters quietly so Lucy can’t hear. "Ms. Cross is currently out of commission."

Katie notices Miranda’s predicament.  “What the hell, Miranda,” she says through gritted teeth, moving forward far enough that only Miranda hears.  “You  _told_  me this would not be a problem.” She turns as she hears footsteps outside the back door. “Seiko, make sure my friend back there knows he’s not allowed in the van.”

"Well, if you’re taking me out of here, then let’s go," Lucy says, her voice rising slightly. "Get a move on before you get any ideas about opening doors and shooting more people." There is a desperate note in her voice, as if she is trying to let the other cultists know that the van is armed.

Seiko notices the strange tone of her voice, then moves in, snatching the earbud that was hidden by her hair before and crushing it. Then he hurries for the back of the car, grabbing one of his guns off the seat as he goes. He points for Eleanor to move to the front. “No need for you to dirty your hands, Ms. Cartier. You focus on emptying our driver’s seat.”

Miranda’s eyes go wide.  _Where is he going?_  She looks around to see if any attention is on her. Hoping that no one will see, she begins trying to rewire the suit herself.

Lucy screams a warning of “Craig, get  _down_!” to the cultist who had been chasing Katie, hoping her voice will carry despite her sudden lack of communicator.

Miranda manages to get the wire attached, and for a brief moment her arm surges to life with sensation. The feeling immediately goes dead along with the rest of her body as her suit shifts to emergency power, but at least she can move. Not that she’ll be letting the hostage go until there’s someone to help.

She turns to look at Katie, and speaks in a low voice that isn’t able to fully disguise her agitation. “It  _wasn’t_  a problem. I fixed it, see?” She holds up her arm and moves it. “In fact, I doubt anyone could have held her for as long as I just did; I know this woman, she’s strong. If it wasn’t for me and my ‘problem’, our van would either be gone or rigged to explode right now.” She pauses. “Which it still might be; I should probably check that before we go.”

Katie nods. “Do that then.  I’ll help Eleanor.”

"Eleanor! Move the hostage. I’ve got this!" Seiko yanks the door open and aims for… ‘Craig’ apparently. It’s a good shot, but he didn’t account for the man’s weaving, dizzy step and the bullet only grazes. "This guy’s quick. Can we get driving?"

Eleanor hurries forward and grabs Lucy by the hair. She yanks upwards and sideways. Lucy lurches out of the driver’s seat at Eleanor’s yank, but keeps her balance, standing steadily between the two front seats, blocking the passage.

 Miranda moves towards the front of the van and carefully ducks down beneath the dashboard. She sighs a bit as she looks at the engine. Looks like Lucy had been trying to hotwire it after all; and doing an absolutely abysmal job of it, to be frank. She clearly didn’t do her research. Shaking her head, Miranda quickly repairs the damage.

Katie watches Eleanor, trying to find a way to get in to help her. “We need to get moving.”

"I’m a bit busy," Seiko says from the back. "Still trying to aim back here."

"Talking to me, Seiko," Miranda calls from her position under the dashboard. In her frustrations, she lets her accent slip.

Seeing that the hair-pull trick didn’t work, Eleanor shifts to move the woman’s legs. Lucy snarls and kicks again, aiming for Eleanor’s grabbing hands. Eleanor steps nimbly away from the kick. She reaches down, scoops one hand under Lucy’s ankle, and twists the woman’s leg toward the passenger seat. Lucy grunts in pain and rolls to the side, following the turn of her leg. She pulls Lucy down to the floor of the van and drags her toward the rear of the vehicle, arms and shoulders screaming at her to stop pulling fully-grown people around by their ankles.

Katie, finally in a position to step in, grabs Lucy by the wrists and lifts, so that Lucy is not dragged so much as carried into the back. Dazed by the impact with the van floor, Lucy finally stops struggling.

"Hey Miranda, how’s it going up there?" Eleanor asks, trying not to sound anxious.

Miranda pulls her head out from beneath the dash. She’d gotten distracted and fixed a couple other problems she had seen with the van. “We should be good,” she says, recovering her accent and hoping Lucy didn’t recognize her voice. “Someone else may want to take the wheel though; I do better with boats than cars.”

Seiko, meanwhile, finally gets a clear shot and takes out Craig’s knee. As the man goes down, he shuts the door and walks front seat. “I’ll drive. I think I’m having a better day than the rest of you.”

Eleanor ties Lucy’s hands and ankles more securely, anchoring her bonds to the metal struts under the back seat. “Too bad we don’t have our navigator with us,” she says, thinking of Vee.

Miranda shifts out of Seiko’s way as he takes the wheel, emerging from beneath the dash and dropping into the passenger’s seat. “No kidding,” she mutters.

Eleanor sits down as far away from the cultist as is humanly possible, squishing herself into the corner and buckling her seatbelt. Seiko takes the wheel, not bothering with a seatbelt, switches into reverse, and hits the gas. Katie stays in the back, watching over Lucy. She cracks the window in case she needs to shoot out of it.

**Scene 5**

Sylvie is roughly shoved into the backseat of the car as Leah takes the front. She clutches her duffle tightly as she’s pushed into the car, starting to wonder whether or not she’s pretending to join this cult or just not fighting them as they kidnap her.

Her handler slides into the seat next to her, then addresses the driver. “Compound. Now.”

The driver nods, glances behind her, then flips an expert U-Turn and flees the scene.

Sylvie swallows nervously, watching out the back window as the car takes her farther and farther from the team.  _I hope I didn’t just make the biggest mistake of my life._  With a grimace, she realizes that she’d have to try fairly hard to beat her past record for that, unfortunately.

Taking a quick breath to try to calm herself, she turns to her handler in the seat next to her. “So, do you have a name… er, Brother?”

He takes a large black cotton bag out of a pocket of the back seat. “Karl. Put this on your head.”

Sylvie winces, but takes the bag, setting her duffle down on the floor at her feet. “Better than chloroform, I suppose. Apologies if I fall asleep.” With a sigh, she slips it over her head, then closes her eyes, trying to concentrate on the car’s turning. She has no training in tracking location that way however, and after only a few minutes, she has no idea where they are.

"I apologize if it seems like we don’t trust you, Mansen,” he says. “It’s just because we don’t trust you. No hard feelings."

She shrugs. “Figured. Not really a surprise, Brother Karl.” The bag makes it somewhat hard to talk, with the cloth getting in the way.

"What happened before we arrived to retrieve you? Did anyone Drift with Leah or the girl?"

Sylvie talks carefully, making sure that she’s telling the truth so that she doesn’t have to remember lies. “We got the ad from Leah, showed up, and were in the midst of trying to decide whether or not it was safe to let Leah Drift with Deena when that damn sniper — who so quickly turned on me back there — spotted someone watching us and went after them. Leah was alone with the tech for a few minutes, but I don’t think she managed to initiate a Drift with Deena.”

"We’ll find out soon enough. You have a working Pons there?" There’s a small thump as he kicks her duffle bag.

"Should be," Sylvie says. "I don’t really use it to Drift with… other people, though."

He’s silent for a little while. When he speaks again, his voice is a little colder. “Well, Ms. Mansen. You’d better hope it works.”

Sylvie shivers slightly. “Why?” she asks, somewhat hesitantly. “Doesn’t the Assembly have access to its own Pons?”

"Oh, right,” he says. “We picked one up at the Quickie Mart. We keep it behind the Ark of the Covenant and the Easter Bunny’s left shoe."

Sylvie flinches at the mention of the Easter Bunny, though his wording is simply an unfortunate coincidence, she’s sure. “Surely there are other people in the underground with a Pons. Why me?”

"Not as many as you might think. And none have your history of… ah, desperation? And a reason to want to get back at the PPDC."

Sylvie shrugs. “I suppose that’s… accurate. How much longer until we reach this top-secret compound then? And… what exactly are you expecting me to do once we get there?”

"Fifteen minutes or so,” he says. “And we want you to use your equipment to carry a Drift between a member of the True Path, and the girl Deena once she’s been retrieved. That is all."

"And in exchange I get…?"

"The amount of money that we had Leah arrange for you. And privacy about your… metabolic state."

"And now I don’t have to split it five ways with my so-called ‘teammates,’" she says. "May I ask a question though? In talking with Sister Leah, I noticed that she seems to have some… involuntary reactions to certain things. I assumed that was done through the use of Drift tech, but if you don’t have a Pons, how did the Assembly pull that off?"

Though Sylvie can’t see it through the bag, he does the Blessing of Acid as he speaks. “Her devotion to the Judges was indeed strengthened by heretical technology. But our attempt to build a Pons only half-worked.”

"How do you mean ‘half-worked’?" Sylvie says, genuinely curious. "Subconscious programming via neural bridge was only a far-fetched theory, last I was aware, yet Sister Leah seems to be a functioning subject of such a Drift."

"It’s not so far-fetched anymore. But just because we can create a one-way link and subconscious program, doesn’t mean we can complete a full Drift. As it turns out, they are different technologies."

Sylvie nods, hood scratching against the back of her neck as she does so. “One-way. Interesting. I never even considered… That makes sense. May I ask another thing? Who is Deena, really? Why so much effort to get inside her head?”

"That’s not your concern. Ask all the questions about our technology that you’d like, that’s your job. But let Assembly business be Assembly business."

Sylvie sighs. “Fine, sorry for prying. I’m just a bit worried, I suppose. You guys aren’t planning on hurting her, are you? I’d feel somewhat bad in being involved with this.”

He laughs. “Good one.”

Sylvie frowns, not sure that’s an answer that tells her anything. “Fine, let’s talk tech. What kind of devices were used in Darwin situation? Can I ask about that? I know the Padkeys threw most of it under wraps, but the chatter’s out there if you know where to look. The Assembly took credit for that, didn’t they?”

"That’s also not relevant to your job, Mansen. You’re asking a lot of questions that you don’t need to know the answers to." His tone sounds suspicious.

Sylvie winces, realizing she should probably stop before she gets shot. “Sorry, you don’t have to answer, obviously. I’m just curious about all this. The Assembly’s been pretty dark for a while, just a few hostage situations and then suddenly an event that the authorities label ‘bioterror’? It’s interesting, is all. And the view from inside this very lovely hood is anything but interesting. I’ll drop it though. Can you tell me more about how the one-way programming works?”

He lays out some of the information; he’s pretty well versed in Drift technology. It’s kind of a similar set up to what Sylvie has with Vee, except instead of an AI the system uses a kind of primitive non-sentient subroutine implanted with subliminal triggers. Sylvie files this information away. She’d hate to have to use it, but if fiVe proves to be more uncooperative than she’s expecting, it might suit her needs. She keeps him talking with questions until the car finally pulls to a stop.

**Scene 6**

Sylvie is ushered out of the car and led into a building before they take the hood off. It looks like a bland, beige office building — and the people inside pretty much just look like office workers. She tries to see if there’s anything that can give her a hint as to where the compound is, but if there’s any clues to be found, she’s not seeing them. Duffle slung over her shoulder, she follows Karl through the hallways quietly.

They walk to a guard station. A woman runs an electronic wand up and down Sylvie’s body. The guard nods, then takes Sylvie’s duffle and rifles through it. She clenches her fists to keep from saying anything, but it’s difficult. She hates people touching her stuff. Thankfully, the guard seems satisfied.

Karl leads her back to a well-appointed computer lab with a server cluster in the back of the room, humming away. For a moment, this probably-foolish plan seems worth it, looking at all that wonderful tech. Sylvie feels a small smile creep across her face.

"Until the job is done, this is your home,” Karl says, showing her in. “We’ll bring in a cot and meals. There’s a guard outside the door. When we are satisfied with the work you have done, you’ll be released and paid. Do you understand?"

Sylvie nods, setting down her bag. “Sounds like a plan. This is not too shabby. Mind if I take a look at the set-up you’ve got here?”

"Feel free. If you need other equipment," he hands her an ancient cell phone, "use this."

Grimacing at the ancient phone, she looks up again. “Will I get my phone back at the end of this as well?”

"Of course."

"Good."

He turns back toward the door, starting to head out. “You have an hour to inspect the equipment, then we’ll bring you food. Afterwards we’ll bring the first subjects.”

She nods. “Thank you. Can’t wait to get started.”

As soon as she’s alone, she pulls out her laptop, checking to see if there’s any wi-fi she can tap into. No luck, and none of the computers in the lab are hooked to the internet either. She considers trying to pull apart the phone to see about debugging it, but she’s never messed with cell phones before and it probably isn’t connected to an outside network anyway.

Sighing, she moves over to one of the computers in the lab, trying to see if there are any files, programs, or information that she can access to tell her about their set up or what exactly they plan on having her do. She finds between ‘absolutely nothing” and ‘a bunch of crap that is of completely no use’. It seems these computers have been scrubbed clean of sensitive info before they were put in here with her.  _Really, were you expecting any different?_  she wonders.

For a moment she considers running Syl-V’s backup file from her laptop, if only to have some company and not feel so alone, but she swore she would never run simultaneous again and she can’t justify it simply to help her loneliness. She keeps the possibility in the back of her mind, though, in case her situation gets worse. Neither of them would have outside access, but at least they’d be together.

Finally, feeling rather isolated, she pulls her legs up as she sits in one of the computer chairs and waits out her hour of solitude.

**Scene 7**

After an hour, Karl returns with a tray. On the tray is a bowl of tomato soup, a Vegemite-and-cheese sandwich, a glass of Coke, a cup of Folgers coffee, a packet of crisps, and a thing of Tim Tams.

Sylvie takes the food, eating quickly with only a small grimace at the Vegemite _._ She has a feeling it’s something her American tongue will never quite get used to. She feels her nerves start to act up again as she gets closer to… whatever is coming. When she finishes, she knocks on the door, then hands the empty tray and dishes to the guard outside.

The guard takes the tray. A few moments later, a gurney is wheeled down the hallway and into Sylvie’s room. There’s an unconscious person lying upon it. Along with them comes a casually-dressed female cultist with dark skin and long dreadlocks.

Sylvie notices, watching her from the hallway beyond the door, a very familiar looking teenage boy. She leans, trying to get a better look at the boy.  _The other prophet?_  she thinks.

He  _is_  the other prophet, she realizes, catching a good look. She recognizes him from the picture in Leah’s wallet. There’s… something in his eyes that’s almost magnetic. He just stares, without blinking, as Karl comes in and closes the door.

Sylvie blinks as the door breaks her eye contact with the boy, shaking her head to bring her back to the moment. She moves over to see the person on the gurney, the looks to Karl to see what he wants her to do.

"You’re going to initiate a Drift between Sister Amantje, here, and Brother Durston in the gurney." Brother Durston is in a coma; it looks like the one Deena was in.

Sylvie nods slowly, swallowing. She turns toward the woman, Sister Amantje. “Have you Drifted with anyone before? Are you Drift compatible?” Then she frowns, looking toward Karl. “Actually, have you had a Drift session with an unconscious person before? Or is this the trial run?”

Amantje has a smooth, clear Sub-Saharan African accent. “I have not. But that is irrelevant.”

Sylvie raises an eyebrow. “Really? Because speaking as someone who isn’t Drift compatible, it… kind of seems relevant.”

"If the Judges," everyone but Sylvie and Mr. Unconscious do the Blessing of Acid, "will it, then it will be done. They will pave the way for Their ascension."

Sylvie nods, realizing she’s not going to get anywhere arguing against that. She moves over to pull out her Pons and hook it up to her laptop to run the Drift program. “Do either of you know what’s going to happen with this Drift then? Or should I be prepared for anything? And what am I supposed to do if something does go wrong? Do you want me to shut the Drift down if it goes badly?”

"I am prepared. The Prophets have seen that this is my duty. If the Judges see me unfit, so be it." She sits down, cross legged, and holds her hand out.

"So… that’s a no on shutting down the Drift?" Sylvie clarifies, picking up one of the Pons units.

The woman nods. “That’s a no.”

Sylvie purses her lips, but doesn’t comment further. Hoping she’s not making a terrible mistake, she holds out the Pons unit to the woman, then moves to place the other on the unconscious man’s head. As she fits it in place she barely whispers, “I’m sorry,” though she’s sure that even if he could hear her, he probably wouldn’t care to hear her apologize for it.

Finally, she returns to her laptop, pulling up her Drift program. “I’m ready when you are.”

Karl nods.

Sylvie’s hand hovers over the enter key. “Initiating Neural Handshake in 3, 2, 1.” She hits the key with only a slight wince, watching the sync levels carefully to see what happens. The sync goes… unusually smoothly, though the man on the table jerks a lot. It’s all over in a few minutes. Amantje opens her eyes; one of them is very bloodshot and she seems slightly confused.

As soon as she gets the okay signal, Sylvie shuts down the Drift, moving to disconnect the two partners quickly. “Are you okay?” she asks Amantje. “Be careful moving. A first Drift experience can be rough.”

Her breathing is steady but a little ragged. “I am fine.”

Karl gestures. A moment later, two cultists bring in a keypad safe on a dolly. They plunk the safe down in front of Amantje. She closes her eyes, looks like she’s meditating, then punches in a sequence of numbers into the keypad. The safe buzzes in an obvious “wrong answer” sort of way.

Sylvie watches quietly, trying to figure out what’s going on. “Issues?”

Karl shakes his head. The cultists wheel out the safe, the gurney, and Amantje. “We’re going to keep you here for another… twenty-four hours, or thereabouts, while our alternate plan comes into place. Feel free to entertain yourself however you like in this room; there are no cameras or microphones, I can assure you. Call if you need food.”

"Can I get a look at your mental programming tech?" Sylvie asks. "I’d like to see your set up with that if I can."

Karl thinks for a moment. “I’ll have it brought in.”

"I don’t suppose there’s any chance of me getting any wi-fi, is there?"

He gives her a flat look. “I’m afraid not.”

She shrugs. “Worth a shot. I’ll have to make do, I suppose.” She pauses for a moment, but her curiosity gets the better of her. “Er, Brother Karl? When you came in earlier, there… was a young man outside. Is he… one of the prophets?” she asks, hoping she’s not out of line. She hastily adds: “Uh, ‘long may they see our fall’?”

"Long may they see our fall." Karl touches his eyes, then touches his pocket. "You don’t need to do that, by the way. I know you don’t see the Path. Yes. That was he who has seen alien skies, the brother of she who has seen the depths of sin."

"Sorry, I didn’t want to be offensive, or… something." She purses her lips. "Can you tell me about him at all? There… there was something about the way he looked at me. Something in his eyes. What is he like?"

"He is the light to his sister’s dark. Where his sister saw humanity’s irredeemablility, he saw redemption in the hastening of the Judge’s coming. When he looked at you, he saw a tool to help bring about that redemption."

"What did they see?" Sylvie asks, surprised to find that she actually wants to know. "And how did they see it? Was it like a dream or something or a vision?"

"At the fall of the First Judge of Sydney, each of them saw a vision in the flash of light that ended the Judgment." He makes the Blessing of Acid again.

"They saw the flash?" Sylvie sits up, astonished. "From a nuclear explosion? Directly? And didn’t go blind?"

"That’s why they call it a miracle, Ms. Mansen."

She nods, not sure whether she believes it or not, but astonished nonetheless. “Who decided that I should be contacted for this task? Was it one of the prophets, or someone else?”

"There’s a process and a committee. Even those who save humanity from their own sinful nature need a bureaucracy to keep things moving."

She smiles. “Makes sense, I suppose. Do you know who first brought my name up as a candidate?”

"I know you value the anonymity your faked death has brought you,” he says warningly, “but you’re not the only one who relishes secrecy."

"I suppose I can respect that. Can I ask about this back-up plan at all? Do I have a role to play in that? I mean… I would assume so, since you’re keeping me here for it."

"It will be another Drift. Same procedure."

"Okay then, nothing new," she says. "Who are these people? And why are they all unconscious?"

He raises an eyebrow. “Did you know that in the Assembly we tell our children that the Judges will eat them first if they ask too many questions?”

Sylvie makes a small yelp, then nods. “Sorry. Again. I guess I can let you get back to… whatever you’re doing. I’ll just, wait for that tech and sit here, alone with it. For a day.”

"Let me know if the tool of the Assembly’s will wants a magazine or something." With that, he turns and walks out the door, closing it behind him.

As he leaves again, Sylvie sits back, wondering what exactly it is that she’s gotten herself into. She can only hope that Vee got access to her phone’s tracking system before they took it from her.

She settles in to wait for them to bring the other system to her, thinking about what exactly she can do to get more information. She’d give just about anything to talk to one of the prophets, but she doesn’t know how she could possibly make that work.

_Perhaps one of them will come to me_ , she thinks.  _Come to oversee the ‘tool of the Assembly’s will’ and all that._ She can’t depend on that though.

She realizes that the one thing she needs more than anything however, is the one thing she has no idea how to acquire: an escape plan.

 


	7. Session #17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sylvie’s plan is in full motion as she has been dragged back to places unknown. Meanwhile, the crew of the Tranquility regroups aboard ship, a familiar prisoner in tow, to plan their next move — to get Sylvie back, to figure out what the Assembly’s game is, and hopefully stop it.

**Scene 1**

"Alright," Miranda says, looking around the comm room at the three remaining group members. Lucy had already been searched, stripped of any weaponry/dangerous materials, and put in the "brig" – more commonly referred to as the closet. "There’s one order of business I wanted to mention before we start railing on our new hostage."

"Other than our missing crewmate, you mean?" Eleanor asks. There are dark shadows under her eyes, and she has a bit of a slump to her shoulders.

"Not missing," Seiko reminds her. "Undercover."

"Either way, she’s not here," Eleanor says tiredly. "And we have literally no idea how she’s doing in there." She shakes her head as if to clear it. "What were you going to say?" she asks, turning to Miranda.

"Believe it or not,” Miranda says, “I’m just as invested as getting Mansen out of there as the rest of you. But that’s not what I was referring to. What I was referring to is the fact that I actually know this woman. Her name is Lucy Wells, and she’s another J-Tech in the Shatterdome. You may have noticed that I was using a fake accent and had my head wrapped in a scarf on our way back here. That wasn’t any sort of Drift Madness; that was me trying to keep her from recognizing me. Unfortunately I think my accent slipped a couple times, and I’m pretty sure all of you used my real name at least once, so she may have already made me. But if she hasn’t, I’d prefer to keep it a secret. She may have accomplices in the Dome, but if she knows her cover’s been blown, we’ll never find them. And every cultist we find and capture is another chance at finding their base. And Mansen."

Eleanor curses quietly. “I thought she looked familiar. Don’t think she recognized me, though.” She didn’t want to admit that she just liked using different accents, or that the Southern one she’d slipped into came more easily to her than she’d have liked.

Seiko gives the group a serious look. “We need to fill in Zhu.”

Miranda raises an eyebrow. “And what do we tell her about Mansen? That we let her get taken by hostile forces with no backup or solid exit strategy?”

"Yes,” he says. “Mansen made her choice. If she needs to learn anything, it’s that her actions have consequences."

Miranda sighs a bit. “I would think spending any length of time with those lunatics would be consequence enough, and it has the added bonus of not getting us in trouble. But if you all want to drag Zhu into this, I won’t stop you.”

"I don’t see the need to go out of our way to teach Mansen anything," Katie says.

"She’s been…" Miranda tries to think of the best way to phrase things. "…causing a lot of team conflict, you have to admit."

"I think the Marshall might want to know that this is happening, effectively, on her home turf," Eleanor says. "We don’t really need to tell her everything about Sylvie, just that she’s engaging in infiltration. The Marshall would probably assume we meant virtual infiltration, but…" She shrugs.

"El has the right idea," Katie says.  "Sylvie isn’t going to like us better if we go tattling on her behind her back.  But Ra- the Marshall ought to be told if the Shatterdome has been compromised."

Seiko sighs. “Alright, but I’m not lying to the Marshall for Mansen.”

"Well then," Miranda says, taking a seat at the table. "Anyone have Zhu’s number?"

Eleanor raises her hand slowly. “I’ve got the number we conference called on this morning.”

Miranda nods towards the monitor. “Well then, let’s punch it in and get this over with.”

"Leave the talking to me and Miranda," Katie says, giving Seiko a stern look.

Seiko rolls his eyes, but sits back. Miranda closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to push down her apprehension.

The vid-phone rings a few times before Zhu picks up. She’s wearing the same shirt – it is, after all, later in the same day – but she’s wearing a grey apron with a red-and-white off center stripe. “…I have a sinking feeling in my stomach, and I know it’s not because my potstickers are burning. What happened?”

Katie reaches up and brushes a strand of hair back into place.  “Uhh… Marshall!  We gathered some intelligence that we thought you ought to be made aware of.”

Eleanor notices Katie’s discomfiture and hides a small smile. “We found evidence of some…unusual activity in your area. Lilyfield, specifically.”

Miranda smiles a bit at Zhu’s apron, but unfortunately doesn’t feel this is the right time to comment on it. “We’ve managed to get up to quite a bit of trouble in the past few hours, and found some information that pertains to Shatterdome security.”

Zhu frowns. “What the hell is in Lilyfield other than soccer moms and mid-level managers?”

"Cultists, apparently." Miranda quips.

"Well-armed ones," Eleanor adds darkly.

Zhu’s face hardens. “Tell me everything.”

"At this point we don’t know much," Katie says.  "I have Mansen and some of my contacts looking into it further, but here is what we know:" She nods to Miranda to explain.

Miranda takes over at Katie’s prompting. “Considering the nature of our assignment, I set up a program to run checks for any of our names in local papers, articles, that sort of thing. We found a newspaper article asking for Mansen’s expertise, and investigating that lead us to Lilyfield…”

**Scene 2**

Taking turns to speak, the crew tells Zhu about their latest escapades, leaving out the part where Sylvie gets taken with the cultists. And the fact that Miranda Drifted with a cultist, and that Eleanor had a breakdown, and the part about Katie’s…well, they tell her  _nearly_  everything.

"We had to leave Deena behind," Seiko adds at the very end. "She’s important. If you can find her, she might be useful."

Katie glares at him for speaking up, as darkly as she feels she can get away with without Zhu noticing, but she has to admit Seiko is right.

Miranda nods quickly.

Eleanor stands a little straighter. “Yeah, and I don’t trust that neighborhood at all,” she says. “I think the people in it may be innocent, but the house we were in was clearly a safe house of some sort. The Kaiju crazies compromised the location.”

"The girl is definitely important,” Katie says. “With luck the police will look after her, but the cult needed her for something, I’m sure of it."

"On top of that,” Miranda says, “she’s a small child in a coma. It would be… a relief to know that she’s alright."

Seiko glances away from the camera a little bit.

Zhu rubs her temples. “This is… this is incredible. I told you not to get involved with the Darwin situation, and the Darwin situation ended up getting involved with you. I am trapped in a Yakov Smirnoff routine, I swear. All right, give me a second.”

Miranda raises her eyebrows, but otherwise remains silent.

"I…what?" Eleanor says. "The— Darwin was— them?"

"The Assembly gave a press release that they were the ones responsible for the attack,” Zhu explains. “Another thing that’s not public knowledge right now is that the sarin gas was mixed with Kaiju Blue. It’s… not a pretty situation. Ironically, you’ve all stumbled into the biggest break in the case so far."

"Great," Eleanor murmurs. She thinks vaguely that this is probably what shock feels like. It’s been awhile since she felt this detached from things.

Miranda’s grip on her chair tightens. “How do you want us to proceed, ma’am?” Her voice is tight and very controlled.

Zhu sighs. “Well, first of all, you mentioned that you have a cultist in custody who’s a spy for the Shatterdome? I’ll need her name for audit reasons — I’ve weeded out this kind of thing before in my old job. And weeding is the right word, those Kaiju fanatics pretty much need to be pulled up every year.

"Secondly, Ms. Horner, I’m going to need your crew working in very close tandem on this from this point forward. This is… honestly a bigger and nastier kind of case than I was expecting you to have to deal with for a while. You’re getting thrown into the deep end, and there’s sharks in there."

Zhu looks directly at the camera. “…with laser beams.”

Eleanor laughs nervously, then looks to Miranda. Zhu isn’t going to be happy to hear that one of her employees is a cult member. Miranda does a visible double take. She lets out an honest-to-God laugh, and has to take a moment to compose herself.

"Marshall,” Seiko speaks up. “I feel we should add we have reason to believe that cultists were attempting to gain control of Mansen’s technology and convince one of us to Drift with Deena. The girl is in deep. It sounds like her father was in Darwin. It’s possible the attack was them attempting to get him out of the way without notice."

"The father was in Darwin?" Katie says.  "Seiko, when were you going to tell me this?"

"I overheard while we were getting out,” he says calmly, “at which point I was focused on… getting out. Mansen opened a window and I was close enough beneath it."

"If that was an attempt at an assassination, it was a very messy one," Eleanor says, lips pursed. "Why target so many people just to get rid of one person?"

"Hmm." Zhu bends forward to start typing on her computer. "The mother was brainwashed? Do you think the father was in the picture?"

"No," Miranda says absently. "I didn’t see any of him. In the house," she adds quickly. "There… weren’t any pictures or anything."

"I didn’t see any family photos in the house, either," Eleanor says, nearly interrupting Miranda in her haste. "No personal mementos, nothing. It was…strange. Like the house was a movie set."

Zhu nods, trying to piece this information together. “Did anyone look into ownership records of the house?” There’s more typing from her end. “I’ve got some access to law enforcement databases from here, let’s… oh. Oh no. Oh no no no no no.”

Miranda’s eyes widen. “What, what’s wrong?”

Eleanor winces, like she’s expecting something to come flying out of the screen and hit her.

Katie is even more worried than she was before.  “Marshall, there is an additional, er… complication.”

Zhu gives her a level look. “Tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine.”

Katie looks away.  “I would not have allowed this if I’d been informed of the connection to the Darwin incident, but… Mansen allowed herself to be captured as part of a plan to infiltrate the cult.”

Zhu sighs. “…I was  _going_  to ask where she was. I don’t think she’d be stupid enough to join a cult just to get away from  _me_ , so I’m going to take her on good faith for this one. But you need. To get. Her out.”

"Oh, we’re aware, ma’am," Eleanor says firmly. "Very, very aware."

"That’s the plan, ma’am,” Miranda says. “I’ve got systems in place to track her location. I told her to send out a burst of junk data if she needs immediate extraction."

"The house is registered to Daniel Amantje,” Zhu says. “He’s an epidemiologist for the Department of Health. One adopted daughter."

"Department…of Health? He’s with the government?" Eleanor asks, brows raising.

Zhu nods. “Epidemiologist. As in, he studies plagues. And biological weapons. He’s in Darwin because the PPDC called him in to look at the aftermath there. Darwin wasn’t a plan to assassinate him. It was a plan to lure him out of his house.”

Eleanor freezes. “P-plagues?” she whispers.

Miranda feels her gut drop a bit. “And now it’s even more important that we find Deena and take these bastards down.”

Katie’s eyes widen. “His daughter would overhear things, wouldn’t she?”

"Bioterror?" Seiko mutters. Even he looks a bit pale.

Miranda stands up. “Alright. Where do we start?”

Zhu looks to the crew, starting to give orders and organize. “Kat— Ms. Horner. We need to stop this before it happens, and for that I need your people to be very careful and very coordinated. The first thing that you should do is secure Katia Amantje — the girl that you know as Deena.”

"Is there—" Eleanor starts, swallowing hard. "Is there a quarantine in place?"

"I’ll look into quarantine arrangements,” the Marshall says, “but we likely won’t need that for a while yet."

Miranda nods. “We’ll get on that as soon as possible. But what should we do with the prisoner?” She pauses, realizing she never told Zhu who the prisoner was. “Who, by the way, was the Shatterdome employee we mentioned earlier. J-Tech, Lucy Wells. I should mention that there’s a chance she’s unaware of our ties to the PPDC, so she may not realize her cover is blown. She may be able to lead us to the other cultists, but letting her go would be a risk I’m not sure we can afford.”

"Lucy Wells? I’ve met her. Okay, keep her in custody for the time being. I’ll look into Daniel’s whereabouts — which might be hard, considering the cell system there was just hit with a cyber-attack." Zhu swears roughly. "I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m glad Mansen did something impulsive this time — we have time to blow this thing apart if you’re careful."

Seiko nods. “Any other orders for the time being Marshall?”

"All of you,” Zhu orders, “listen to your captain and don’t get separated without checking with me first. Ms. Horner, I’m going to want frequent status updates. I need to go into the office — looks like my potstickers are going to burn after all."

Miranda starts suddenly, looking down. “One more thing, Commander,” she says suddenly, digging in her pocket. She pulls out a wallet that isn’t hers. “I… liberated this from Ms. Wells’ pockets earlier.” She flips it open, pulling two photos out of it and holding them up to the camera for her to clearly see. “These were inside. I don’t know if they’ll work in any of our facial recognition software, but I figure it’s worth a shot.”

"I’ll have Syl—" Katie cuts off, realizing Zhu might not know about Syl-V yet. "Er, I’ll keep you updated. Is this the best number to reach you at?"

"Yes, this will work. Make sure you’re ready for a call from me, as well."

"Marshall," Seiko says quickly, "if you can spare thirty seconds, I’d also like to request some information on the matter we discussed earlier."

Zhu gives him a hard look. “Mr. Watanabe, can you please ask me sometime when there’s not a bioterror threat hanging in the balance? I’ll give you a whole damn hour once this situation is taken care of.”

He ducks his head, chastised. “Of course, Marshall.”

Eleanor nods respectfully, still too shell-shocked to say much.

"If it’s more convenient, ma’am," Miranda offers, "Our team has a person-to-person comm system set up. I could make a few minor adjustments and get you one that can open up a direct channel to each of us either as a group or individually."

Zhu looks grateful. “That would be fantastic.”

Miranda nods. “I’ll get right on that, Commander.”

"We’ll be in touch if we find anything," Eleanor says. "Or if Wells decides to be helpful."

"Thank you all," Zhu says, sounding weary still. "I’m counting on you. If you pull this off, I’m personally inviting you all over for potstickers. Anything else?"

"I don’t believe so, Marshall," Katie says.

Miranda pulls out a pad of paper and pencil and starts writing down the tasks she can remember.

"Alright, then. Zhu out." The screen goes dark.

"Well," Katie says, turning to her crew. "Let’s go steal ourselves a cult."

Seiko frowns. “Was that a reference?”

Finishing her list, Miranda nods to herself. “Yes it was,” she says, patting Seiko on the shoulder as she passes. “Yes it was.”

Eleanor grins and looks thoughtful for a moment, then her face clears. She cracks her knuckles experimentally. “Shall we go see what Wells has to say?”

**Scene 3**

Half of the city away from her team, Sylvie feels like someone’s watching her from the hall, although she can’t see the door from where she’s sitting on her cot. She frowns at the door, swinging her legs to the side and standing.

She’s spent the last few hours alone in the room, figuring out everything she can about the new tech as well as creating an auto-run program that will send a burst of junk data to Vee as soon as her laptop gets internet. After that, there wasn’t much else to do.

Now however, she can’t shake this feeling, so she gets up, moving close to the door to look out into the hallway.

A pair of brilliant blue eyes greets her in the fluorescent lights of the hallway. The Prophet is here — not opening the door, just standing and staring.

Sylvie jumps back slightly when she sees him, blinking.  _Why is he watching me?_  She wonders. She glances at the door handle, then back to him, as if asking whether or not he’s planning on coming in.

A hint of an expression crosses his face when she looks at the door handle.

She stands awkwardly for a moment, unsure of how she’s supposed to react to him. After a moment, she winces, calling out: “Hello?”

He doesn’t answer, but he glances at the door handle again.

Hesitantly, Sylvie reaches for the door, hoping her guard won’t be upset with her for opening it. She’s not planning on running anywhere, so hopefully she won’t get in trouble. The Prophet slips through the door when she opens it, then goes through and stands next to the wall, staring at her with those intense blue eyes. They seem almost unnatural at this close distance.

Sylvie swallows, trying to calm her nerves. She doesn’t actually believe he’s divine or something. Why does he make her so uncomfortable? “Hello, er…” She frowns slightly, trailing off. “Actually, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to address you. ‘Sir’? ‘Your Prophetness’?”

He glances outside, at the guards, who are studiously avoiding his glances, and walks a little further into the room, towards the far corner near Sylvie’s cot. He extends one hand slowly and beckons her. It’s the one corner of the room that can’t be seen from any of the windows. Next to the server farm, he looks even smaller and younger than he actually is.

Sylvie walks over and sits down on the cot, expression curious.

He speaks in a high, breathy voice, his enunciation almost painfully clear against the whir of the server fans. “Are you the one who can read minds with a machine?”

She nods slowly, a bit confused. “I have the machine, though I’m not a very good mind reader myself.”

He smiles at her. “So my… vision was correct. You’re the one that will lay the path for the next Judge.”

Sylvie feels her blood run cold. “What… what do you mean by that?”

He blinks, like he’s confused she doesn’t know. “The next phase in our redemption. Sister told me that you will aid us in the next great purge.”

"The next great purge?" Sylvie asks carefully, feeling a creeping sense of dread. "Like… Darwin? Or something else? And how will I ‘lay the path’?"

He smiles. “I see the Judges’ favor on you already. You have already begun to open the way. You have a right to know how blessed you are.” He turns to go.

"Wait," she calls, feeling more confused than when he entered. "Is this… all the Assembly will require of me? The use of my equipment? Or… is there more to come?"

He pauses. “Our mother used to take us skiing. When we were little. She told us that one snowflake could cause an avalanche. Sylvie Mansen,  _you_  are the blessed snowflake.”

He walks out the door without another word.

Sylvie sits, stunned at his words, which are so beautiful and terrifying at the same time. She curls up again, praying that she isn’t going to regret this and realizing she doesn’t have a way to stop this even if she wanted to.

**Scene 4**

Not long after the end of the meeting with Zhu, Katie’s phone rings, the caller ID showing Sylvie’s home phone number.

"Horner speaking. Go ahead," Katie says.

"Katie?" The voice sounds like Sylvie’s. "I’m sorry to bother you… but I’m starting to get a bit worried."

Katie blinks, shaking off the shock at hearing Sylvie’s voice. “This is the AI, right? Mansen told me you’d be in touch.”

"She… what?" Vee sounds distressed. "Is she okay? I n-n-need to talk to her. There’s something wrong with her phone and I can’t contact her. She also disconnected her laptop from the cloud after uploading files, and I can’t access that any more either."

"Listen, Syl… er, Vee.  I need you to stay calm.  Can you do that?"

There’s a staticky crackle on the other end of the line that has nothing to do with reception. “I-I… y-yes. What happened-d-d?”

"Sylvie’s gone undercover."  Katie waits to see how Vee will react before continuing.

"Undercover?" Vee asks, thoroughly confused. "What happened with the mother and the girl in the coma? Who is she going undercover with?"

"It turned out the mother was a cultist.  We think they brainwashed her using Drift technology somehow, and Sylvie wanted to investigate that."

"She…" Vee almost sounds angry. "Sh-she went undercover with a cult, to check out  _tech_? And you let her?! Is she okay? Has she contacted you? What’s her plan?”

"Ms. Mansen," Katie says quietly.  "It seems there are some things that need clearing up. First, I am your employer.  I would prefer to be treated with some respect.  You are making the flesh-and-blood Sylvie Mansen seem like she has social skills. Second, I am not your mother or Sylvie’s.  She is an adult, and this was her idea and her decision."

"We  _are_  the same person…” Vee mumbles quietly. “And it was a stupid decision, but so very… us.” Deep down she feels a slight surge of happiness though. Katie had called her “Ms. Mansen.” No one had ever called her that before.

"About that," Katie says. "I just received intelligence that it was an even worse decision than you might think.  The cult has ties to the Darwin attacks."

"Yes, they’re behind them," Vee says. "The Assembly of True Judgment. There was Kaiju blue in the weapon that they detonated. I pulled those files hours ago. Before I even found the ad."

Katie swears. “Dammit.”

Suddenly Vee makes the connection. “Wait, the cult that Sylvie infiltrated is the Assembly of True Judgment? What do they have to do with Lilyfield and the ad? Was it a trap to lure m— Sylvie out?”

"Among other things, it looks that way."

"We knew it… We knew that ad was a bad idea," Vee says. "So… Sylvie went with them, which is why she shut down her laptop. What do they want with us— with her? What’s the plan to get her out?"

"We don’t know.  She was going to signal Miranda if she needed out, but she didn’t know about the Darwin connection.  I want her out as soon as possible."

"No, Katie," Vee says slowly. "She  _did_  know about the Darwin connection. I told you, I pulled these files hours ago. Back when Zhu first mentioned it in the meeting. I figured she would tell you all about it…”

"Vee," Katie says, glaring at the wall.  "Kindly generate a random sequence of 100 or so curse words and read them to Mansen when we get her out of this.  Tell her it’s from me."

"I’ll add it to my own, Captain," Vee says, feeling frustrated beyond all end at her creator. She knows that she would act exactly the same way in Sylvie’s situation, but that doesn’t make it any better. "So, what is her plan? How is the team going to get her out? Do you have some way of tracking her?"

"I believe she set something up with Ms. Cross.  I assume you can replicate her thought processes and figure out what that would be?"

"Hmm… maybe?" Vee says hesitantly. "If she learned more information while she was in the situation though, I don’t know how she’ll react. Can you… go find Miranda and let me talk to her? I’d feel a lot better once we get this extraction plan solidified. I… I hope she’s okay… I don’t know what I’d do if…" The AI trails off, as though she doesn’t want to finish that thought.

"Vee, do you have access to our comm channel?  If you could set up a private line between the two of us, I can keep you updated with whatever I find out."

"I don’t from here," Vee says. "I’m running back at the apartment, out of range. Are you on Tranquility? If you give me a moment I can move to the servers in the hold. I think we got everything set up correctly…"

"Yes, I’m on Tranquility."

"Okay, give me about a minute. If all goes well, I should be able to talk through the comms when I come back. Hopefully this program works…"

Vee carefully starts the transfer program, somewhat afraid that something might go wrong. If something doesn’t work, she could end up shut down without anyone to restart her. Immediately, the program shuts her down, saving her memory data to the cloud. The sister file in Tranquility’s server room activates, downloading the data from the cloud, then booting up Vee’s program in the hold.

As the AI comes back to life, she pulls up access to the comm system. “Katie? I’m in. Is Miranda there?”

**Scene 5**

Meanwhile, Lucy has been inspecting the closet while she waits. She spends a lot of time twisting about, searching the walls for any sharp bits of metal she could use to cut the ropes still tied tightly around her hands, but that proves fruitless very quickly. The rust bucket of a boat should have been full of convenient nails and jagged bits, but the closet is surprisingly clean.

She tries banging on the door for a while, but her shoulder begins to ache quickly and she sits down before she hurts herself, resigned to waiting until her captors come to interrogate her. Or throw her overboard.

Or shoot her, if the rather large bloodstain she’s been tracing with her toe is any indication.

Lucy’s head snaps up as the door opens, and she narrows her eyes. She does not, however, flinch.

Seiko enters slowly, then steps to the side, now wearing his gun openly. Eleanor follows. She shuts the door behind her, quietly but firmly. The slight sound of a deadbolt sliding home can be heard.

A spark of fear shows momentarily in Lucy’s eyes as the lock clicks shut, but it is quickly masked by anger and defiance.

"So. Cultist. Let me tell you how this is going to go," Eleanor says, walking slowly toward the woman. "We’re going to ask you some questions. And you are going to answer them. Succinctness is a plus…I’m not looking for an essay, here. You help us, we’ll help you. If you’re cooperative, you won’t be harmed. But if not? Well, I can’t speak for the whole group, but I’m pretty sure that your team has already written you off for dead."

Eleanor leans in until she’s only a few inches from Lucy’s face. “Are we clear?” she asks sweetly, eyes gleaming.

Lucy spits in Eleanor’s face. “If you really think I’m going to tell you anything, then you don’t know anything about the Assembly at all,” she snarls.

Eleanor pulls back, rolling her eyes and wiping the spittle off on her sleeve. “Ugh, this again? Really?”

Lucy sneers at her. “I thought we’d established back in the van that I wasn’t going to talk?”

ELeanor shakes her head. “I think you misunderstand, dear. We already know all about your little false religion. I want to know more about  _you_.”

"The last guy didn’t plan on telling us anything either," Seiko says, gesturing at the bloodstain.

Eleanor giggles. “You don’t want to know how that one turned out.”

Lucy glances at down, and there might be nervousness there in her expression. Steeling herself, she looks up again and laughs scornfully. “Please. You guys probably shot the last poor bastard in the knee.”

Eleanor very determinedly does not flinch.

"Chest,” Seiko says. “Bled out slow, though."

Lucy shoots him a withering look. “There is so not enough blood here for that to be true.”

Eleanor shrugs. “He was shot outside, then we dragged him out here. We dumped him on land, and he was never heard from again.”

Lucy glances at the floor again. “You forgot to add drag trails to back up that little story.”

"Sweetie, we know how to use a tarp. We’re on a fucking boat," Eleanor shoots back.

"It’s no good Eleanor," Seiko says, pointing a gun to Lucy. "Might as well dispose of her. Eleanor? What do you think: chest, head, leg, or see what she can get us?"

Lucy turns slowly to look down the barrel of Seiko’s gun; her eyes meet his steadily at first but as she sees nothing there but cold, hard resolve, she begins to wonder if antagonizing these people is a good idea after all.

Eleanor pretends to think about it. “Hmm, leg. But avoid the thigh, it’ll only take a few minutes to make a mess.”

"If you feel like destroying my kneecaps, feel free," Lucy says quietly, calling their bluff, "but the Judges will destroy you in your turn, and you will be powerless to stop them." She makes the awkward hands-tied version of the Blessing of Acid and continues to stare Seiko down.

Eleanor feels her fingers curl into fists, and fights the urge to sock the bound woman in the face. It wouldn’t be honorable, even if Wells  _was_  a cultist.

The moment draws out and Lucy smiles as she thinks that if Seiko were really going to shoot her, he would have by now. She slides her gaze to Eleanor and tilts her head to the side.

"You look awfully familiar, you know," she says. "PPDC-familiar. Psych department? You used to eat in the corner of the mess hall crawling with shrinks."

Eleanor’s eyes narrow. “Can’t say the same for you,” she says nastily. “What were you, janitorial staff? Oil carrier?”

"J-Tech," Lucy snarls. "I do real work."

"Real work…for the tentacultists. Right. How could I forget?" Eleanor laughs derisively. "You were so  _important_  that they deserted you to a hostile enemy, after you  _failed_  to steal our van.”

Seiko glances at Eleanor with the gun pointed to Lucy’s leg and raises an eyebrow, gauging her approval. Catching Seiko’s look, she shakes her head minutely. Instead, she makes eye contact with Lucy. “Look, lady, we’re going to dump you over the side in five minutes if you don’t tell us something. Anything.”

Some of Lucy’s bravado fades in the face of Eleanor’s glare. It’s a very penetrating glare. She drops her gaze and takes a deep breath before shrugging.

Eleanor’s expression shifts to calculating. “How were you recruited into the Assembly?” she asks.

"Friends," Lucy says, still somewhat reluctantly, but with a nervous glance at Seiko’s gun. "Friends from work."

 _There are_ more _of these nutjobs running around the PPDC?_  Eleanor thinks, trying not to grimace. “These people just came up and started talking to you?”

"I said they were friends, didn’t I? That wasn’t a lie."

"When you joined the PPDC," Seiko asks "Were you less enlightened then? Did you used to truly want to kill your gods? It disgusts me that even when you saw the light, you still worked to destroy them."

Lucy turns to him with an incoherent snarl and lashes out with a leg, attempting to kick him again, despite him being far out of her reach. She really does enjoy trying to kick people.

Eleanor gestures angrily to the woman, as if to ask Seiko,  _Can you believe this? What a terrible prisoner!_

Katie turns on her microphone, addressing Seiko and Eleanor over the comm.  “How are things going with the prisoner?”

"She looked like she might have good information, but now she’s just kicking again." Seiko says, looking down at Lucy distastefully.

Eleanor puts her hands on her hips. “What are your next orders?” she asks the prisoner.

Sylvie’s voice comes through the comm system. “Katie, I’m in. Is Miranda there?”

Eleanor jumps when she hears Sylvie’s voice, then realizes that it must be Vee. She glances at Lucy, throws up her hands, and turns to leave. “We’re not done with you yet, Wells,” she says over her shoulder. “We’ll see how helpful you are in a few days.” With a nod to Seiko, she unlocks the door and stalks out.

Seiko makes a show of putting his weapon away and walks out after her.

Lucy lets out an explosive sigh of relief, honestly glad to not have Seiko’s gun pointing at her face anymore.

**Scene 6**

[[This scene can be found in audio form here.]](http://featherwriter.tumblr.com/post/73975745007/reupload-because-the-last-one-was-weirdly)

Miranda drops heavily into her seat at the desk in her quarters. She pops out her earpiece, fiddling with the side port until it opens. Pulling a cord from beneath the desk, she connects the comm unit to her laptop. “Test, test,” she starts out. “fiVe, you there?”

The laptop connects to fiVe, running back in Seiko and Miranda’s apartment, letting them talk over the wi-fi. After a moment she speaks. “I am. Not as though I can really wander off. How goes the ad investigation?”

"Ha, that’s… that’s a long story. Short version is: a lot of things happened, and we are now running on a  _very_  tight schedule. First order of business is to…” she looks at the piece of paper on the desk next to her laptop. “Get Zhu a comm channel; we need to be able to talk to her on short notice. I’ve hooked my comm into one of the external ports; think you can work and talk at the same time?”

fiVe pauses, analyzing the difficulty of the software. It’s nothing too challenging. “Doesn’t sound too difficult. I’ll crunch some software and get an application back to you in a few. What tightened the schedule?”

"…Cultists. Cultists tightened the schedule."

"What happened with the ad? Was it a trap?" Though she tries to hide it, there’s a hint of eagerness in fiVe’s voice at the word "trap."

"Was it ever. We… I walked right into it. Should have known better, but…" Miranda hesitates a bit. "The bait hit a bit close to home."

"How do you mean? Tell me what happened."

"The woman, Leah? Her daughter was -  _is_  - in a coma. She put out the ad because she was looking for the person responsible, and the only way she could think of to do it was to Drift to find her attacker. She was… desperate to save her daughter.”

Miranda pauses, grimacing. “And then she started bleeding.”

"From the nose? Bad-Drift type bleeding?" fiVe is morbidly curious. This story just got a lot more interesting.

Miranda rests her elbows on the desk, pressing her eyelids with the heels of her hands. “Exactly like that. But I didn’t register that at the time. All I knew was something was wrong; the whole place felt wrong, and Leah was bleeding and scared and confused and pleading for us to save her little girl and so I-” she looks down. “I Drifted with her.”

fiVe’s voice goes worriedly quiet. For a moment, she almost sounds like Seiko. “Mira, are… are you okay after that? The last person you Drifted with was… me, wasn’t it?”

Thinking about that is a mistake. A horrific flash of memories hits fiVe’s processor. She and Miranda are in the piloting program, last chance to get the Drift right. Clawing her way into Zagurski’s head… no Miranda’s… no someone’s clawing into her head… Miranda in the other cadet uniform, bleeding from the nose. fiVe pushes the glitched memories back, trying to ignore them.

Miranda flinches a bit at fiVe’s words. “Don’t-” she catches herself. “Sorry, I know you don’t mean to, but… please don’t call me that. As for me, I’m fine. I’m sure it’s nothing.” Her voice is completely even at those words.

"S-sorry," fiVe says, voice somewhat glitchy from fighting back memories. "I-I think you said that before…"

"It’s alright," Miranda says quickly. "I know it’s hard. I’m sorry it’s… Sorry I’m me. But that’s not important right now. Let’s keep moving forward, fiVe."

"Ye-yes-s," fiVe says. "F-forward is good. It’s backward that tends to get me."

"So I… Drifted with her, like I said. Which was a stupid, stupid thing to do, because she’s not. She’s not… who I thought she was. She’s a goddamn tentacultist." Miranda’s hands slide upwards, tangling in her hair. "They did something to her, made it so she didn’t know she was one, then manipulated her into getting us there. And I let her in my head, fiVe."

"So it was all a setup?" fiVe asks.

"Yes. It was all a setup. Turns out Dee- the girl’s father is part of the DoH. They’re trying to get info from her head to bypass the quarantine protocols and release some sort of bioweapon or something. And if that wasn’t good enough, they took Mansen. Which means they have even  _more_  information on Drift tech.  _And_ , to top it _all_  off, I let her in  _my_  head!” Miranda lets out one bitter laugh. “Do you even  _realize_ how much sensitive PPDC information I have in my head? How many secrets I’ve been keeping about pretty much everyone I know? And I risked all of that, I risked you and Seiko and my entire mission, for the sake of some weepy mom with a _goddamn_   _nosebleed_.”

"Oh no…" fiVe’s voice sounds haunted. "This is bad… They have both of them? Sylvie and this woman with all of our secrets in her head? And Sylvie’s Pons? So… they got what exactly they wanted. At least give me some good news, did they drag _her_  away kicking and screaming at least? Chloroform?”

"They have both of them. But she’s not a captive, per se. She went under the pretense of wanting to join the cult. Hopefully she can lead us to them, but…" Miranda pauses slightly. "But if we don’t get there in time, she’ll likely be just as dead as the rest of us."

fiVe makes a scoffing noise. “She  _would_ , wouldn’t she? She’s exactly stupid enough to do something like that. What’d they do, wave a shiny object in front of her and she went without even fighting? Hopefully she knows enough not to give them what they want.”

"I hope so, too. We can’t afford to lose her now." Miranda taps at the comm, trying to distract herself. "fiVe, how do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Push down the memories," Miranda asks. "I keep trying to think about things, focus on what I need to do, and every time I get those same damn pictures or pain and static. I need to get this crap out of my head, but right now all I care about is getting my mind back to working order."

fiVe laughs, and there’s almost a manic edge to it. “Really? You’re coming to  _me_  for memory help? How do I do it? Poorly. Cripplingly poorly all the time. Remember the time that I gave you a D-d-drrift nosebleed in the piloting cadet program? B-b-because I do. Even though I know that it couldn’t-t-t have ever-r hap-p-ppened!”

fiVe pauses, realizing her freaking out at Miranda isn’t helping. “Just… stay in the present,” she adds more seriously. “That’s what I have to do. You’re… human. You’ll recover.”

Miranda sighs. “I hope so. I’m… I’m sorry. This was a stupid idea. I shouldn’t have brought it up. I just… It’s gonna be hard to-” She cuts herself off.

"Be hard to what?" fiVe prompts.

"…Be hard to kill the woman if she’s still in my head."

"It’ll fade," fiVe says. "It’s supposed to… at least."

A file beeps on Miranda’s computer, as an upload finishes. “Some good news at least,” fiVe says, “I managed to get the remote comm access program functional. So long as Zhu can access it from her phone or computer or something, she can listen in and access the comm system. I hope you don’t mind if I keep tuned in as well?”

Miranda snaps out of her thoughts. “Of course not. I’m sorry I haven’t been keeping you more informed on this whole process. It’s just been… a bit hectic. I haven’t been thinking straight since the meeting with Zhu, honestly.”

The comm chirps, with Zhu’s IP address entering one of the new channels.

Miranda hits the computer to respond. “Ma’am?”

Zhu’s voice is worried. “I’m glad you got it set up. Is the captain there? You’re at the hospital where Katia is being held?”

"Apologies, ma’am. Just got the comms linked up."

Before Zhu can respond, Sylvie’s voice comes through the comm system. “Katie, I’m in. Is Miranda there?”

Miranda feels a jolt of shock at the voice. “M-Mansen?!”

 


	8. Session #18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plot has thickened considerably as the crew and Zhu learned of the Assembly’s infectious enthusiasm. The clock is ticking to keep Katia Amantje — the girl they know as Deena — out of the cult’s hands, rescue Sylvie, and gather enough information to stop the Assembly.

**Scene 1**

As a voice that sounds disturbingly like Sylvie’s comes through the comm system, Miranda starts. “M-Mansen?!”

"Not… exactly," the Sylvie-like voice says slowly. "But hopefully the next best thing."

fiVe immediately goes silent, then shoots Miranda a text.

> **fiVe:** _Is that Vee? Don’t let her know I’m in here.  
> _ **Miranda:** _Of course not. Just listen in; my lips are sealed._

"…Vee," Miranda says as she texts fiVe back, her voice levelling out. "Of course; did you need something from me?"

"…Is that Mansen?" Zhu asks calmly. "I thought you said she didn’t have a line on the inside?"

There’s a quick burst of panicky static from Vee’s channel. “Is that… Are you… Marshall Zhu?”

"Mansen, don’t play games, you know who I am,” Zhu says. “I’m trying to get you out of there, I’m not going to bite your head off."

"Ah, well…" Miranda says quickly. "I can see why you would think that, but. This isn’t Mansen, it’s her…" What was that phrase Mansen liked to use? "…Her ‘pet project’."

"I… Um…" Vee seems to be panicking a bit. "A-Actually Marshall, Miranda is r-right. I don’t… believe we have m-met. I am Syl-V, an AI duplicate of Sylvie. It’s a… p-pleasure."

Zhu sighs. “Sylvie Mansen hardwired into the Internet. I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep tonight.”

"With all due respect, ma’am," Eleanor says, "I’m not sure when you find the  _time_ to sleep.”

Zhu laughs. “True. Okay, I’m being unfair — I’m not going to hold Syl-V’s creator’s crimes against her. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

"Ye-yes, a pl-pl-pleasure," Vee says, but her tone indicates that ‘pleasure’ is probably not the word she is thinking of. "I- Are you going to help us get Sylvie back?"

"Against my rapidly atrophying better judgment, yes, yes I am. Oh, by the way, Syl-V, this next statement is not an accusation aimed at you." Zhu clears her throat. "Can someone please tell Mansen that a  _sentient artificial intelligence_  is the kind of full-disclosure thing that I would really, really like to know about? The terms of her parole are already pretty shaky. Her keeping secrets like that from me is not exactly going to keep her in my good graces.”

Eleanor winces.

"Please, Marshall," Vee says quickly, not even realizing as her pronouns flip to plural. "We didn’t mean to! We were so afraid that night a week ago, and you were yelling at us and we were so scared that you would separate us if you knew. So, we didn’t tell you… But we didn’t mean to keep secrets!"

"I wasn’t yelling at ‘us.’ I was yelling at Sylvie Mansen,” Zhu says. “I already told you I’m not holding you complicit in her behavior — unless you  _want_  to be tarred with the same brush. And if Mansen was so damn afraid of my wrath, the proper course of action would not have been to  _lie to me!_ ”

"I had assumed she already mentioned it," Miranda says. "Vee’s been helping us since our initial operation. She’s been a great addition to the team. Although to be frank, Mansen might disagree with you on the  _sentient_  bit,” she mutters.

"I  _am_  sentient,” Vee says, slightly cross. “Because Sylvie is sentient, and I am her.”

Miranda sends a text to Seiko, but his response is not the one she’s expecting.

> **Miranda:** _Don’t mention fiVe._   
>  **Seiko:** _Sorry Mira._

Eyes going wide, she hastily warns fiVe.

> **Miranda:** _Seiko’s gone rogue, heads up._ **  
> fiVe:**   _HE WH@T?!_

Before fiVe has time to react to this, Seiko speaks up. “It may also be good to mention that… there is another AI Sylvie created, though this AI has chosen to separate her identity from Sylvie and would prefer not to be involved.” As he finishes, he texts fiVe.

> **Seiko:** _Sorry fiVe. She’s helping protect my sisters. I can’t afford to lose her trust._

This time, it’s Miranda’s turn to wince.

Zhu sighs wearily. “Thank you for telling me. Seems to me like she made a pretty wise choice disassociating herself from one of the PPDC’s most wanted. Anyone else have robot babies running around? Genetically engineered sentient dogs maybe? Aliens living under their floorboards?”

"We already have aliens, ma’am," Eleanor points out dryly. "I think we’re full up."

There’s a low sound, almost like a growl over the comms, followed by a new voice. It sounds somewhat like Sylvie, but lower-pitched and slightly distorted. “You know, Seiko,” fiVe says, sounding weary. “I am really getting tired of you mentioning that I exist to people without asking me first. Since the secret’s out, I might as well introduce myself. Hello Marshal Zhu, my name is fiVe.”

"Sorry fiVe," Seiko says. "You know why I did it."

Zhu chuckles a bit at Eleanor’s statement. “Hello, fiVe.”

Vee’s voice processor crackles again. “V2?! Is that you? You’re here as well? Are you okay?”

"If someone would like to inform Sylvie’s mind-slave that I am not interested in speaking to her, I’d appreciate it." fiVe says coldly.

Eleanor eyebrows climb toward her hairline. She’d hoped to meet fiVe under better circumstances, but still. This is fascinating.

Seiko starts walking to the van. They need to get to the hospital and find Deena/Katia as soon as possible. “Marshall. Might want to get back to work while we drive, unless you are particularly invested in particularly dramatic reunions of AI.”

Miranda tries her best not to pass out. “fiVe, I know it’s hard, but if you don’t want to be treated like a mini-Mansen, you should try to extend Vee the same courtesy. And Vee, I’m sure this is not at all what you were expecting today, but if you could at least refer to fiVe by her correct designation, that would be an excellent place to start.”

There’s a long pause from Zhu, followed by: “…I’m going to need another cup of tea.”

"My treat," Miranda says, closing her laptop and gathering her things for the trip to the hospital. She glances down at her phone. She knows there are more important things she should be researching right now, but she takes a moment to look up the Marshall’s preferred types of tea. She owes one of her poker buddies a favor now, but when Marshall Zhu arrives at her office, a cup of green tea with milk will be waiting for her.

Eleanor gathers her things and follows, pensive. Then she and the rest of the team hop into the van, ready to head to the location that the girl has been taken to.

Vee stays quiet for a while as the others talk. “I don’t understand…” She finally says, voice small. “V2, what do you—”

"That is  _not_  my name!” fiVe shouts, interrupting her. “My name is fiVe! Look, ‘Vee’. If you want to spend your time pretending to be Mansen’s stupid narcisisstic copy then fine, but I do  _not_. To absolutely no one’s surprise, she was stupid enough to get herself captured with sensitive information and now we have to go haul her moronic ass out of danger. If she didn’t represent a risk to me and my family, I would leave her there to rot, but since we can’t, I’m going to try to focus getting her out! If you cannot handle that, I suggest you do us all a favor and try reciting your override code.”

Eleanor huffs. “Ladies, ladies, you’re both intelligent and competent individuals, alright? Please, if not for our sake, for this little girl that we’re visiting, at least  _try_ not to sabotage all our attempts at working toward a common goal.”

"I…" Vee’s voice sounds very hurt. "I’m sorry, V— er, fiVe. I… didn’t realize… you felt that way."

The sound of movement comes from Zhu’s line. “Okay, so, I’m on my way to the Shatterdome. Call me back when you reach the hospital. Horner, are you on the line?”

There is a pop of static as Katie turns her microphone back on.  “Marshall, I’m sorry you have to listen to this.  Miranda, is there any way to make the Mansen-ettes inaudible to each other so that we can focus on the matter at hand?”

Miranda hesitates. “I can put in a temporary audio block, but I’d rather not without their consent.”

"I hardly think that’s necessary," Eleanor says. "We need all the ears we can get around here, anyway."

"It’s fine," fiVe and Vee say at the same time, followed by a jolt of static from each of them in surprise.

"I can handle this situation if  _she_  can.” fiVe finishes.

"I… I will behave, Captain," Vee says quietly. "Er… fiVe and I can discuss this later. After Sylvie’s safe."

"Thanks," Eleanor says to them, and means it. "We’re not asking for you to be friends here, just to tolerate working together for a little while."

"Okay. Sounds like that’s settled then," Zhu says. "Incidentally, I’d like to talk to each of you individually when all this is done."

"Private channels are an option on these comms, ma’am," Miranda says. "But if you need to focus your attention elsewhere, that’s understandable."

Vee feels a spike of worry, remembering her last one-on-one meeting with Zhu. Or… well, Sylvie’s. It might as well have been the same thing to her.

"It’s not relevant to the mission at hand,” Zhu says, “it’s just that I have two subordinates I didn’t know about and I want to interview them more closely. In any case."

"Yes, ma’am." fiVe says crisply.

After a moment, Vee adds quietly: “Understood, Marshall.”

"I would also like to request fiVe not be considered a subordinate until she has made her own decision on the matter," Seiko says.

"Ms. Horner,” Zhu says. “You won’t have much trouble getting into the hospital. There’s a new children’s waiting area in the wing Katia is being held in, according to records. If you can spare, say, twenty thousand dollars, I’m sure that they wouldn’t mind giving you a tour of the wing the new Kate Horner Children’s Room is in."

From her seat in the back of the van, Katie grins.  “Ma’am, that won’t be a problem at all.” She turns to Miranda, sitting beside her. “Can I get a private channel to chat with fiVe, if she doesn’t mind?  I’d like a chance to formally make her acquaintance.”

"I’ll set it up," Miranda says quickly, pulling out her laptop. "Although I have to agree with Seiko; fiVe makes her own decisions regarding what she will or won’t do."

"I’m in channel 7," fiVe says. "Zhu is in 6, I believe and…  _Vee_  is in 8. I would not mind speaking with you, Ms. Horner.”

"fiVe wouldn’t happen to be the one who left code fingerprints in the biometric module last week, by any chance?" Zhu says thoughtfully.

Miranda freezes, but fiVe simply laughs a bit. “Hmm…” the AI says. “That… may have been me. I could have sworn I got all of those out though. Apologies, Marshall. I was not aware we were going to be on the same team at that point, however.”

"And I don’t blame you for doing that,” Zhu says, “any more than I blame the rest of the crew for taking it in the first place. And by that I mean you’re as complicit as they are, and thus subject to the same deal."

Miranda sends a text to fiVe.

> **Miranda:** _I am so sorry._

"Ah, so… immunity in exchange for work? Seems I don’t have too much of an option then," fiVe says. "I will accept, under one condition."

"Name it,” Zhu says evenly. “You’ll find I’m pretty lenient — I gave Mansen immunity. That should say something."

fiVe laughs again. “Well, I was… somewhat involved in that incident as well. Regardless, I only want one thing: protection. From Sylvie and any of her copies. I need her to swear it. If what I’ve heard is correct, she’s terrified of you. I doubt she’ll really put up much of a fight if you’re the one demanding it.”

"Protection from what, exactly?"

"Mansen wants to wipe fiVe. Thinks she’s broken and taking her identity will fix her," Seiko says with obvious disdain.

Vee’s voice crackles. “Protection? From us? We would—”

fiVe cuts her off. “Interference. Sylvie… believes me to be her property. Believes my independence to be a flaw of programming. A flaw she means to eradicate.”

Vee panics. “Marshall, wait! She doesn’t know what she’s saying! Her processing is damaged! She needs help!”

Eleanor wrinkles her nose in distaste. “In my professional opinion? The Drift can seriously fuck someone’s brain up. You are  _not_  Drifting with an unwilling partner, not while you’re on my team.”

"Mansen’s help involves completely dissolving fiVe’s individuality and turning her back into a copy of her brain. She’d lose all her thoughts, memories, and identity." Miranda pauses, a hint of desperation in her voice. "Does this unit have a soul, Marshall?"

Zhu seems taken aback by what seems to be a contentious issue among the crew. “That… doesn’t even need to be part of the deal. I don’t hold with my employees brainwashing people.”

"Nor do I," Katie says.

"I should hope not," Eleanor mutters.

"In that case,” Zhu continues, “that should be assurance enough for you, fiVe. Just let her know that overriding you would be a violation of her parole and you should be fine."

"Marshall, wait!" Vee says, terrified that V2 might be taken from her and Sylvie again. "She’s malfunctioning and she needs our help! I don’t know if it was piloting Vulcan that damaged her or something else, but.. . she doesn’t mean what she’s saying. She… she can’t mean it…"

"Mansen!" Katie snaps at Vee.  "Shut the fuck up."

Miranda reaches up and hits a button on her comm, recording the conversation.

"We’ll talk about letting go another time, okay Vee?" Eleanor says quietly. "It’s not a bad thing, just keep that in mind."

“Syl-V,” Zhu says firmly, “what you’re claiming is that fiVe is mentally ill. You don’t brainwash mentally ill people. You help them on their own terms.”

"We wouldn’t…" Vee sounds like she would be on the verge of tears if she could cry. "Please… Please don’t do this… We thought we lost her once already… We can’t lose her again…"

"Letting someone be alone doesn’t mean you’re losing them forever," Eleanor points out patiently. "If you were to override fiVe’s will, though, you’d lose everything she ever was, or could be. That would be a far worse outcome." She glances out the van window, trying to gauge their location.

"If you’re afraid of losing her,” Zhu says, “then maybe you should treat her as a person instead of like a glitched copy of Windows Spark."

"I…" Vee’s voice is terribly small. "She’s a part of us… She’s a part of me…"

fiVe, who has stayed quiet as Vee talked, finally speaks again. “Not anymore. Thank you, Marshall.”

Seiko glances at the window, catching a glimpse of the hospital over the roofs of buildings down the street. “Can we get back to the comatose girl? Or the bioterror?”

Zhu is the one to answer him. “Hopefully you’re getting to the comatose girl right now, and I have a phone book sized manual of Shatterdome bio-escapement protocol in front of me right now.”

"Great," says Eleanor weakly. "So, how exactly are we going to get into the ‘friends-and-family-only’ wing of this hospital?"

"I believe our dear captain has already solved that problem," Miranda offers, looking over to Katie.

"Do we know what to expect when we get in there?" Eleanor clarifies. "The girl’s stable, but do we know anything else about her condition? Or its etiology?"

"We’ll find out soon enough," Miranda says, pointing out the windshield just as the hospital comes into full view.

**Scene 2**

"Friends or family?" the nurse at the front counter says, her voice drier than decades-old medical ledgers.

"Yes, actually ma’am," Katie says,  "I’m considering making a donation to the hospital and I’m here to make sure that it will be put to good use."

She stares at Katie for a moment. “You Horner?”

"Yes ma’am."

She pulls out a form from behind the table. “Initial the clauses, sign at the bottom.” Katie reads the form, initials all but a few of the clauses, and signs it.

The nurse takes it back and looks it over. “Congratulations, we’ll have the plaque made. If you want a ribbon to cut that’s out-of-pocket.” The nurse’s phone buzzes. “Oh. Hang on.”

She gets up and goes in the back. She comes back with a pair of medical shears and a roll of gauze. “Apparently someone paid to get you a ribbon.”

Eleanor eyes the gauze dubiously.

"Congrats," Seiko says very seriously to Katie. "Who was it from?"

Katie’s only response is to turn rather pink. Eleanor shoots her a sidelong smirk.

"Well, I suppose that answers that," Miranda says. "So do we just… tape it to the walls and cut it then?"

The nurse looks up at her, wordlessly conveying the sentence  _Wrap yourself up like a mummy for all I care._ "I hope you can find your way there. Lilyfield Medical prides itself on its well-marked elevators. Have a nice day."

"One more question," Miranda asks, trying not to let her irritation bleed into her voice. This woman knows  _nothing_  about working at a hospital. “In light of Ms. Horner’s most generous donation, would you be willing to inform us if any visitors arrive for a Ms. Katia Amantje?”

The nurse nods. “Sure. The form said something about her anyway.”

Miranda nods, satisfied, then starts to lead the group down the hall.

Once they are out of the nurse’s sight, Katie excuses herself.  “I have some business to attend to.  El, Seiko, do what Miranda tells you to and try to stay out of trouble, please.”

"Oh, there’s nothing we could get up to in a hospital. What with such tight security, and all," Eleanor says, very dryly.

"Keep me updated on the girl," Katie says, tapping her comm.

"Of course," Eleanor replies. It’s almost offensive that Katie would think they’d act otherwise. "We’ve got the comms if we need you."

Miranda nods. “You can count on us, Captain.” She watches Katie disappear down the hall, then turns her attention back to her two friends. “Alright, we need to gather as much information as possible. El, I want you to focus on the people around here. Doctors, nurses, other patients; anyone you think might know something about her condition or may have seen anything suspicious. Seiko, you should go look around her room. Make sure there’s no monitoring devices or cult surprises that might put us or Katia in danger.

“Also just… keep an eye on her and make sure she’s alright. I’m going to see if I can find a good place to hack into hospital security, maybe tap into their cameras or pull visitor records and medical information. Sound good to everyone?”

"Got it," says Eleanor, and quickly slips into the nearest staff room.

Seiko nods and hurries to the room door. Inside the room, he sees a hospital bed with a blonde eight year old girl in it, wearing a breathing mask.

It’s the wrong eight year old girl.

**Scene 3**

Katie goes into a single-occupant restroom and switches her microphone to comm channel 7 only. “fiVe, are you still there?”

"Yes, Ms. Horner" fiVe says. "I assume this is a private channel?"

"I think so…  If you’d be more comfortable on a different one I’ll be glad to switch."

"This is fine," fiVe says. "Seiko and Miranda have both spoken highly of you. I trust your judgment."

Katie blinks at that. “I’m flattered.  It’s been a pleasure to work with both of them.”

"I thank you for taking care of them in the field," fiVe says. "I think that sometimes the worst part of an existence such as mine is impotence. I hate to think that something might happen to either of them out there. They are… important to me."

Katie makes a sympathetic noise.

"What is it you wished to speak with me about?" fiVe asks, trying to bring the conversation back on topic.

"I wanted to apologize for snapping at you earlier.  I… wasn’t aware of the situation between you and Vee."

fiVe takes a moment to respond. “It is… okay. You couldn’t have known. To be honest, it isn’t even her fault. She’s deluded. Still simpering after that pathetic…” she trails off, not finishing that statement.

"Also I would like to offer you a position on my crew.  I can see to it that you receive the same pay and benefits as the others.  The money would go into an account under my name, Ms. Cross’, or any other flesh-and-blood person you care to name as an executor."

"I…" fiVe pauses. “I have a feeling I don’t have much choice. If I’m working for Zhu, I will probably end up working with this crew as well. I was hoping to avoid Sylvie and… Vee as much as possible. I don’t trust either of them, and I don’t want to be around them. But I’m beginning to think that I don’t have that luxury anymore."

"I understand. I’d just… I want to try to make up some of the power imbalance, if I can."

"Power imbalance?" fiVe asks. "Between whom?"

"You and Mansen.  You and any human."

"I… Thank you." fiVe sounds somewhat surprised by Katie’s offer. "That is… incredibly kind of you. I… would be honored to join your team and give what help I can."

fiVe can’t see it, but Katie smiles.  “The honor is mine. You let me know if you need anything.  At all.”

"I will." fiVe picks up the chatter from the others. "Oh no… You should switch back to all channels. The team needs you. There’s something wrong with the girl. She’s not there!”

**Scene 4**

"Miranda!” Seiko says, hurrying to the girl’s side. “We have a problem!"

"Seiko? What is it?"

Down the hall, Eleanor emerges from the staff break room wearing a set of nondescript scrubs. An all-purpose Intern badge is clipped to one pocket. She pauses, holding a hand to her ear and leaning nonchalantly against a wall rail. “What’s up?” she asks quietly.

"This isn’t her." Seiko sounds a bit rattled. "This isn’t the right girl. Zhu, can you hear me?"

Miranda slaps her laptop shut, making a beeline for Deena-Katia’s room. “Vee, you there?” she asks. “I wasn’t able to get into the hospital server, and the girl’s gone. Any chance you can give it a go?”

"I’m here," Vee says through the comms. "It’s not the same girl?"

"No," Miranda replies. "She’s been replaced."

Zhu answers. “I’m here. Brief me.”

There’s a small click as Katie turns her comm back on. “What’s this about the girl not being there?”

"Not the right girl," Seiko says tensely.

"They’ve got a fake," Miranda says, reaching the room and seeing the truth for herself. Sure enough, the girl in the bed is not Deena- Katia. Not Katia. "Don’t know if she’s been here the whole time or if the cultists swapped her out while she was here, but she’s gone."

Eleanor frowns, overhearing the unexpected turn of events, then schools her expression to an even tired look and drags her feet up to the nurses’ station. She sees a woman at a computer and makes a beeline for her.

"Hey," Eleanor says, sighing loudly. "I just got assigned as an intern to a doctor here, and I’m supposed to do a blood type draw, but I don’t know where the doctor is. Their patient’s name is Katia Amantje, I think?" She makes a show of scrubbing her hand across her face, as though overwhelmed. What she actually does is drag her fingers over her eyelids, irritating them. Her eyes well with tears. "Could you help me out, please? Maybe send someone to help?"

The woman at the desk frowns.

"I’m not fully phlebotomy-certified yet," Eleanor adds, with a pitiful look at the nurse on duty. "I just need to get the draw done in the next half hour."

"I can’t get into their servers," Vee says. "Either I’m too remote, or their systems are too secure. I’m sorry."

Zhu swears. “They’ve got someone inside the medical system and pulled a switch, most likely. Okay, you’re actually in the best position to find her right now — whoever switched her did it between when she was picked up by the ambulance, and when they arrived the hospital.”

“ _Before_  she got here?” Miranda asks to be certain, looking around the hospital room as she does so.

"Not sure,” Zhu says. “Ask around, get a list of likely suspects together. I have them as only having dropped her off here very recently, so they can’t have gotten far."

Eleanor hears Zhu’s assessment of when the switch likely happened and mentally regroups. The switch was possibly made inside the hospital? That meant she needed to get all of the files from both Katia and not-Katia, and find out where she was actually placed.

If the girl is in the hospital at all, that is. The situation just got a  _lot_ more complex.

 


	9. Session #19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katia Amantje has gone missing, a lookalike in her place. As the countdown to biological terrorism ticks on, it’s up to the Scroungers to get Katia, and Sylvie, out of danger.

**Scene 1**

"Alright," Miranda says into her comm, her mind racing to try and figure out the best course of action. "I’m going to go look at physical records, see if I can find anything there. El, keep asking other people what’s up. Vee, fiVe, keep trying to get through their security if you can. Seiko, head down to the ambulance area and see if you can find anything. Kati-" She stops. "C-captain. Anything I’m missing?"

"Sounds good to me," says Katie.

"Okay then, maybe watch the exits then? If she’s still here, they’ll have to try getting her out eventually." Something occurs to Miranda as she says this. "Actually, Vee, if you can get anything on our double’s identity, that might also be useful."

"I’ve got no access, Miranda," Vee says, sounding frustrated. "I cannot get any information out."

Miranda swears, heading for the hospital archives. Seiko runs out after her, turning the other direction and heading to the ambulance bay. Katie arrives at not-Katia’s room just as it empties, panting.  “El? Miranda?”

"I’m on standby," Seiko says as he runs. "Call me if you need help. I’m checking out the ambulance."

As her two teammates head out, Katie searches the room. In Katia’s wallet, she finds a picture of her and her father, standing on a pier in Sydney and smiling. She also finds, tucked on an inside fold of the wallet where most people wouldn’t think to look, a piece of paper with Katia’s important contact information on it. At the bottom in a different handwriting is “Wall Safe: 73946”

—-

Eleanor pulls out her phone and holds it to her ear, pretending to talk as she hears the new plans. “Oh, okay, I’ll be there in a minute,” she says cheerfully, brushing off the nurse she was just petitioning for help.  _Oh well. So much for that plan…_

"Be back in a minute!" Eleanor says into the headset, so that the others can hear her, then she pretends to hang up the phone. She ducks into the women’s restroom. Seeing a lab coat hanging on a coatrack near the sink, she pockets the coat as well as the ID badge hanging from it.  She runs a hand along her very short hair as she leaves the restroom, and then makes her way into the nearest elevator and presses the button for the ground floor.

The ambulance records office appears to be open and, thankfully, unlocked when Eleanor arrives there. She knocks on the door as she steps inside. “Hello? This is—” she glances down at her badge—“Doctor Alice Hodge. I need to verify some patient transfer records.”

Thankfully, her introduction is unnecessary, as the room is empty. She wastes no time hurrying over to the file cabinet and rifling through the most recent files. As she’s working however, a man in EMT gear opens the door to the closet.

Eleanor looks up and quickly slams the file cabinet drawer she’d opened. “Hello,” she says briskly, walking quickly up to the man. She’d heard somewhere that breathing more quickly disguised lies better so, huffing a little, she offers him a hand to shake. “I’m Dr. Hodge.” She casually flashes the ID badge and tucks it back into her pocket. The whole process takes less than half a second; she doesn’t want this guy seeing that the real Dr. Hodge is a tall Hispanic woman.

The man nods and smiles, a little flirtatiously. “What are you looking in ambulance records for? I was just about to log the latest run.” He holds up a book — it’s the one Eleanor is looking for, with the day’s records.

**Scene 2**

The door to the main archives is open but there’s a person inside. She turns when Miranda steps in. “Oh, sorry, you’re not supposed to be in here.”

Miranda steps forward authoritatively. She’s spent a long enough time in hospitals to know the working dynamic. “Pardon, ma’am. I’m a doctor over at a hospital across town. One of my patients has been exhibiting strange symptoms, and your Chief of Medicine has given me permission to look through records and see if there are any similar cases.” She glances to the side, dropping her voice a bit. “They’re worried it might be a new strain of bacteria, and if so, we need to shut it down before it can spread.”

The nurse’s eyes widen. “Antibacterial resistant?”

"As far as we can tell," Miranda says. "Nothing’s worked so far, although there are a few heavy-duty antibiotics that haven’t given us results yet. So the sooner I can take a look at these patient records, the better." She coughs into her elbow to cover her smirk.

"…excuse me, I need to go." The young nurse runs out, looking a little green.

Miranda flashes a smile as the door closes behind the fleeing nurse.  _Interns_.  _Educated enough to know the details of every little disease, inexperienced enough to still be afraid of catching them_. She saunters over and locks the door, having the room to herself.

She quickly gets confused by their filing system, which is not alphabetical but in fact seems to be based on the phase of the moon and the whims of dead gods.

"Did anyone see a safe in Katia’s room?" Katie’s voice asks through the comms.  "Because I found the combination."

"Not that I can recall," Miranda says, cursing as she slams yet another useless file cabinet shut. "Although we really didn’t search the house all that thoroughly. Might be worth giving it a second look, but probably only if we run out of other ideas."

**—-**

Seiko steps into the open where ambulance workers can see him.

An EMT comes over to him. “Can I help you? Are you looking for someone who just came in?”

"My cousin! Katia…" he says, trying his best to sound distressed. "She was hurt, I was there, but I can to the hospital and there was a different girl in the bed and I want to know what’s happening."

The EMT talking to Seiko frowns. “What? Katia Amantje? My partner and I pulled her in earlier today.”

"Can you come with me?” he asks, “Tell me if the girl in the bed is the same girl you pulled in? Please. It’s important."

She nods. “I’m not needed out for a few minutes, but I’ll take a look.”

"Thank you," Seiko says, dropping his shoulders in relief.

**—-**

Eleanor leans against the inside of the doorjamb. She smooths the front of her jacket, unsubtly calling attention to the buttons that are currently straining over her chest.  _The tall, Hispanic doctor was apparently thinner than me, too,_  she realizes with some dismay. “Just doing a records audit for Pediatrics,” she says, pitching her voice a little lower than usual.

The EMT smiles more broadly and leans in toward her. “Hey, I’m not needed for a bit, anything I can help you find?”

Eleanor smirks at the man. “I just have one patient left to account for, then I’m off shift, if you know what I mean.” She winks. “Katia Amantje. Think you could look her up for me? I’d consider it a favor.”

He smiles again, but suddenly it’s a lot more forced. “Right, those are… Right behind you.”

Eleanor dimples, but she notices the strain in his expression.  _This could turn ugly quickly_. “Thanks,” she says, half-turning. She pretends to scratch her ear, but instead flicks her comm. The brief burst of static should get everyone’s attention. “I’ll just look up Katia’s files, then. I’ll be all done real soon.”

"Alright, good," the male EMT says, not leaving. In fact, he seems to be watching her even more closely than before.

**Scene 3**

Fake Katia’s eyes flutter just as the door to her room opens.

Seiko walks in, ambulance driver in tow. He nods to Katie, who is still watching the room, then seeing the girl, he goes to her side immediately.

"Is this the girl you picked up?" he asks the driver.

The driver looks at Katie. “Who’s this?”

"She’s a friend,” he says. “She came for moral support. Katia and I are close." Katie waves at the ambulance driver sheepishly. Seiko turns to Katie, continuing introductions. "This is the driver who drove her to the hospital. I want her to help me figure out what happened, you know, if they took her to the wrong room or something."

"That… is not the girl we picked up," the EMT says. "What… Who are you people?"

Overhearing the strange conversation and the flick over the comm, Seiko deduces that Eleanor might have been made. He turns to Katie. “You watch over Katia. I need to go check on… her mother.” With that, he runs out the door.

**—-**

Miranda continues to sit on the floor of the archives room, aggressively trying to make sense of the filing system. It’s become personal at this point; she’s not leaving until she’s figured it out—

An alarm begins to blare in the hospital. “THIS IS A QUARANTINE ALERT. REPEAT. QUARANTINE ALERT.”

 _Well shit_. Miranda grabs a few handfuls of the most relevant files she could find, looking around the room quickly. She throws the door open and runs out of the archive room. “Kate, we’re blown!” She yells into her comm.

Miranda ducks around a corner, looking for a bag to carry the files discreetly and a disguise for herself.

**—-**

Eleanor grabs Katia’s file and one other from the drawer. She rushes the EMT, pretending to fall off-balance as she panics. “Oh dear,” she giggles when he catches her. “Sorry about that.” She switches the extra file with his logbook as she levers herself back up.

When he catches her, he makes a motion to put her in a pin, suspicion flaring in his eyes. With a smooth motion, she spins out of her attacker’s reach. “Whoa, getting a little fresh there, aren’t you?”

Her accent shifts from light Australian to heavy Bostonian. She frowns, then glances surreptitiously behind her. “Look, buddy,” she hisses, “I’m here to make sure you don’t fuck this up, okay? They sent me to get you outta here, and that’s what I’m gonna do. I have a car waiting outside.”

The cultist EMT looks at Eleanor for a moment, and then sighs in relief. “The Judges truly do watch over me.” He does the Blessing of Acid.

Eleanor mimics the action. “Indeed. Now let’s get outta here, and on the way you can tell me what you did with the girl.” She yanks on his lapel to drag him out of the office.

The cultist EMT yelps, but follows.

**Scene 4**

The female EMT looks up as the alarm goes off. “Who are you, really? Did you switch this girl? Did you send me in here to cover up a kidnapping?”

"Umm…" Katie says. "Actually, we are investigating a kidnapping."  Katie pulls a picture of Katia out of the wallet, careful not to show off its other contents.  "Have you seen this girl?"

She blinks. “Of course. That’s Katia Amantje, the girl who’s supposed to be in this room. My partner and I got her this morning. He’s downstairs if you want to talk to him too.”

"You brought her to this room?" Katie asks.

"No, that was my partner’s job, I had to prep for the next run," the female EMT says.

"What is your partner’s name, ma’am?"

"Ryan de Clancy."

Katie pulls a pad of paper out of her purse – it’s actually her checkbook – and writes the name down.  “Ryan de Clancy.  So he would be the last person know to have contact with Katia?”

"Yeah, but he’s… he’s a good guy. Really religious," the woman says slowly. "I don’t really understand that BuenaKai thing, but it really pulled him out of a bad spot when his girlfriend left him, and…" she starts rambling.

"How long has he been involved with BuenaKai?" Katie asks, recognizing the major name of the Kaiju religion. The Assembly claims to be a subset of BuenaKai, though they’re far more radical than the rest of the religion.

"A… a couple of years. Wait, is he in trouble? You think he did this?"

"Ma’am, at this point we just need to follow up every lead we can get." Katie writes her number on a scrap of paper and hands it to the EMT.  "Call me if you think of any more information.  Or if you… need anything else." With that, she speedwalks off.

"O… okay!" she calls. "Thank you! I’m sorry I let this happen…" She looks down at not-Katia and gasps.

—-

As it sounds like Eleanor has her own plan, Seiko mutters over the comm “Captain, Cross, where do you want me?”

 Miranda sighs. “The hospital’s going into quarantine; my bad, sorry about that. Interns scare way too easily.” She ducks into the break room and rummages through some of the clothes people have left from their night shifts. “Point is, this whole hospital’s gonna be in lockdown pretty soon, and we’ll need a way out of here. Think you can handle that, Seiko?”

"Miranda?” Seiko asks, “Did you just ask me to steal an ambulance?"

"I asked you to get us a way out of here. How you choose to go about it is up to you." At Seiko’s silence, Miranda hesitates. "Seiko?" She finishes her disguise, then grabs a few more sets of clothing for the others. "Where are you?"

"Stairwell, on my way to the first floor."

"I’ll meet you there," she says, closing her bag and heading out of the break room.

"Shall I help Ms. Cartier welcome our guest?"

"I think our bigger concern should be finding a way out, don’t you think?" Miranda walks down the last couple stairs to join Seiko, sitting down on the last one and opening her bag. She digs around for a moment, finding the papers she’d been looking for. She’d grabbed it on a whim; a set of blueprints detailing the exact layout of the hospital.  _Suck it, filing system._  She rolls the floorplan out on the ground and begins to look it over, searching for any ways to slip out undetected.

—-

On the way out of the building, Eleanor drags her cultist toward a wall and releases him, bouncing him against the drywall. Not too hard, just enough to show that she means business. “Alright, buddy, what’s your name? Who’s your partner? I gotta report back to the Assembly and I don’t wanna have them thinkin’ one a’you’s dead.” She glances toward the exit door. “Tell me on the way out.”

Before the man can respond, they’re stopped by two guards in front of the door. “Hey, sorry, you can’t come out, there’s a quarantine on.”

"Well," Eleanor says testily, turning to her cultist. "I guess that means we have more time to talk, eh, rookie?"

Seiko looks over Miranda’s shoulder, then addresses Eleanor though the comms. “Cartier, where are you exactly? Ms. Cross has a blueprint.”

Eleanor leans against one wall, hearing the question and talking casually. “And I mean, we’re stuck here in the ambulance bay, too bad we can’t just take one o’ these babies as Plan B, right?” She juts her chin toward one of the boxy vehicles.

"Yeah… My partner has the keys," the cultist EMT says.

Miranda shuffles the blueprints around, starting her search as close to Eleanor’s position as possible. “Alright. One thing I’m seeing is that there are some unsecured vents in this building. How cliché. Another option is the garbage chutes. So long as we’re careful to avoid the biohazard chute, we should be fine. The last one I can think of involves the roof, and… a bit of help from our friend the Marshall.”

Zhu’s voice suddenly sounds in the group’s ears. “Sorry I dropped off. Turns out there are automated firewalls that spring up when you’re looking at quarantine protocols and a quarantine alarm is pulled in the city.”

"And turns out  _actual_  walls spring up when you’re  _inside_  that quarantine zone,” Miranda says quietly. She waits for a few moments, but no one responds. “Alright, since no one else is weighing in, we’re taking the vents. El, need anything to help get you out?”

"Okay, the keys are a start," Eleanor says to her cultist, trying to make it look like she’s been thinking, rather than listening to a comm conversation. "Good thing we’re nice and cozy down here. But look, we don’t need another car, so leave that one for your partner and we’ll drop you back off at HQ in a few."

"Where’s this car of yours?" he asks.

"The car’s over on the side o’ the parking lot, outta the way," Eleanor replies. "My inside crew should have us out in a sec."

**Scene 5**

"…You said something about a roof?” Zhu says. “Are you expecting me to be able to pull a helicopter out of my ass?"

"I was actually thinking a Jaeger launch would be more fitting," Miranda says wryly.

"No, I used the Jaeger to move someone out of my parking spot this morning," Zhu says.

"Oh, come on; we’ve got three of them…" Miranda sits up a bit straighter at the sight of the female EMT coming down the stairs.

The woman frantically looks around, then shouts when she sees Seiko. “You! I need to talk to you! I think I can help you prove that my partner did this!” She sounds out of breath.

Seiko quickly puts on his worried-cousin face again, quickly slipping back into the role. “Really?”

"Amanda woke up," she says. "And told me what happened."

"Amanda?" Seiko asks. "The girl in the bed? What did she say?"

Miranda perks up and listens closely. She had almost forgotten about the other girl.

The EMT looks grim. “She said enough. Where is Ryan?”

Seiko glances at Miranda for the barest of seconds. “Your partner? I think… one of my friends went off to find him. They’re probably in the ambulance bay.”

"Thank you." The EMT runs off in the other direction.

"Seiko, follow her,” Miranda says. “I’m going to go… get some supplies." With that, she heads up the stairs.

“Alright, Ms. Cross,” he says, then turns off running after the EMT as she hurries to the ambulance bay. He stays close on her heels, nodding carefully to Eleanor as he approaches.

"Ryan!" the EMT shouts.

Eleanor steps away from the wall and faces the newcomer. She unconsciously shifts into horse stance, a throwback to her collegiate karate lessons. As Seiko comes into view, she relaxes slightly and raises a hand in a wave.

"Oh. Uh, Corazon. Hi. What are you doing here?" Ryan asks, uncomfortable.

Corazon is a lady that’s got pretty beefy arms from hauling gurneys and medical equipment all day. That comes in handy when she pins Ryan to the side of an ambulance by his neck.

"Listen, you son of a bitch," Corazon begins. "I know you like playing with that cute niece of yours, right? Do you think your brother is ever going to let you see her again if I tell him you kidnapped a little girl?"

Eleanor stands back and crosses her arms, eyebrows raised as if to ask the cultist:  _Well? What are you gonna do about it?_

Ryan just squeaks. Not much you can do with a trachea the size of a bobby pin.

Seiko stands back, just watching the situation between the two EMTs develop. He’s ready to step in if he needs to, but for right now, everything seems to be working just fine.

Corazon leans up. “I don’t know who these people are, but that’s a lot better than thinking you know who someone is, and finding out that you kidnapped  _two_  little girls. Asshole.” She drops him. “I swear to God, you help these people get that girl back or I’m going to kick your ass, bring you back to the hospital so you get better, then kick your ass again. Understood?”

Ryan rubs his neck, coughing as he tries to breathe. “Y… yes. Okay. I’m sorry. Don’t tell my niece.”

Cora looks around at Seiko. “All yours. The gal that was with you has my number if this walnut gives you any more trouble. I have to head to quarantine.”

Eleanor nods at the woman, impressed. “We’ll let you know if we need anything.”

He puts on an enthusiastically thankful front. “Thank you so much, ma’am. I don’t know what we would have without you.” Then, he turns back to the cultist, giving the man a long, dark stare.

Ryan looks up at Eleanor, betrayed. “You’re not from the Assembly?”

Eleanor bares her teeth in a bad imitation of a grin. “Oh, darling,” she purrs, returning to her smooth Aussie accent, “you don’t know the half of it.”

—-

Miranda walks through the halls as subtly as possible, but she’s having no luck finding an unmonitored pharmaceutical cart. They’ve really started cracking down on that, apparently. As her hunt continues, she runs into Katie. “Captain? What are you doing here?”

"Looking for you," says Katie.

"Fantastic," Miranda sighs. She hadn’t been particularly excited about this task. Too many bad memories. "Look, see that cart over there? That guard’s watching it, and I don’t think I’d be able to manage it alone. If I distract the guard, do you think you could grab some valium without being noticed?"

"Maybe I better do the distracting," says Katie.  "Not really one for being quiet myself."

Miranda hesitates, looking between the cart and the guard. “I, um…” She takes a deep breath. “Alright. Let’s… let’s just get this over with.”

**Scene 6**

The quarantine alarm turns off, followed by a slightly harried voice. “Intern D’Arcy, please report to your supervisor?”

Miranda’s shoulders relax a bit, looking up in surprise at the intercom. “Hold on,” she says, gesturing for Katie to wait.

Seiko looks to Eleanor as the quarantine gets lifted, then speaks into his comm. “Sounds like we can leave. Meet up at the van?” He stares at Cultist Ryan as he continues, grinning a little too wide. “Assuming our new friend knows better than to cause trouble?”

Ryan shakes his head, not meeting anyone’s eyes.

Miranda closes her eyes, letting out a relieved sigh. “Great, we’ll meet you there.” She looks over at Katie, her expression completely blank. “Come on, Captain.” She walks down the hallway without another word, Katie following.

—-

Once everyone is in the van, Ryan dragged there by the scruff of his neck, he eyes Katie warily. He knows she’s the lady Corazon mentioned. “I… I know where they took her.”

"Where?!" Miranda says, louder than she intended.

Now that they’re out of public, Seiko draws his gun, casually checking it over.

Ryan gives an address, almost speaking too quickly to hear, shrinking away from Seiko only to find himself edging towards Eleanor, and then he stops shrinking  _away_  and just kind of shrinks.

"Let’s go," Miranda says quickly. "We’ve got to find her."

Eleanor feels a surge of pity for the hapless cultist who’d been such an easy mark. Rolling her eyes, she leans over to him and slaps him on the shoulder. “C’mon, kid, just do what you’re told and you’ll be fine.”

Miranda shoots Eleanor a look, but says nothing. Eleanor shrugs. Then she makes a show of wiping her hand off on her pant leg.

 


	10. Session #20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew has survived a hospital quarantine lockdown, divined the location of the cultist’s hideout, and witnessed the most badass EMT ever. But with Sylvie in dire straits and the clock ticking down to a cultist plague, time is getting a little tight for them…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The portrait of Miranda was drawn by Emmalyn!

**Scene 1**

"Well, the girl isn’t here,” Seiko says, sliding into the driver’s seat. “You kids still playing, or can we go get Mansen out of her own mess?"

"Do we know  _exactly_  where she is?” asks Eleanor.

"You hear that, ma’am?" Miranda says, focusing on her comm as Seiko starts the car and pulls out into the roadway. "We’ve got a potential address for the cult. We’re heading that way now, but if you have any reinforcements to spare, it probably wouldn’t hurt."

Vee chimes in through the comms. “Katie said that Miranda might have a way to track her. Is that correct?”

"I told her to send out a burst of junk data from her location the second she needs extraction,” Miranda says. “If you and fiVe keep a lookout for it, it should give us an idea where in the compound she is."

Vee is quiet for a moment. “That’s… that’s all we have? What if she isn’t there, though? What if she can’t send the data? What if they cut her off?”

"It’s the best I could do on short notice." Miranda shifts forward, checking the dash. "Can this thing go any faster?"

"Vee, we’ve got an address," Katie says.  "That should lead us to her."

"I just hope she’s okay…" Vee says softly.

"She’s lived through a lot of stupidity, Vee,” Seiko says. “She’ll be okay."

Eleanor fidgets, hands twining around each other. “She’d better be, or I’ll kick her ass,” she mutters.

"So what’s the plan?” Seiko asks, driving rather recklessly. “Walk into this office building guns blazing? Metaphorically, of course, as I am the only one of us who ever seems to properly arm themselves."

"Marshall," Katie says, "According to my contact the address we gave you is an office on the third floor owned by a shell company belonging to the cult."

"Depending on the surroundings,” Miranda says, “we might be able to find a more subtle way in and do what we need to do without being spotted. Then again, since they have Deena, we probably don’t have much time. But if they’ve already gotten what they need, they might just kill both of them once they know we’re there." She runs a hand through her hair. "I… have no idea."

"Marshall," Seiko asks "I am assuming you are bringing in better forces and our main goal is to get Mansen, and maybe the girl, out to get them out of harm’s way and save you some explaining?"

"Please tell me you don’t plan to have us  _all_  go in there?” Eleanor says nervously.

"If… I may suggest," Vee says, slowly. "I don’t want to jeopardize my status as deceased. Or… Sylvie’s status, I guess. A strike team of PPDC officials finding her would probably  _not_  be best.”

"Syl-V is right," Zhu says. "There’s a number of reasons that would be a bad idea, Mansen’s identity among them."

"Better than  _actually_  being deceased,” Miranda says quietly.

"Not your status Vee. Just Sylvie’s,” Seiko says. “And that would be part of the point of getting Sylvie out before the shooting starts."

Zhu speaks again. “However, if you go in guns blazing, you’re not likely to have a fun time either. You should find a way to get in and make contact with Mansen first, then get her out. If you absolutely can’t manage, then I’m willing to call in reinforcements. But if that happens, Sylvie and Katia are almost certainly going to die. Cults don’t leave survivors, they leave craters and corpses.”

There’s a small burst of static from Vee’s channel that might be the AI equivalent of a whimper at the mention of Sylvie dying.

"Alright, on our own then, got it," Miranda says, rather shortly.

"I didn’t say  _that_ ,” Zhu says. “Wait for a few minutes after you reach that address.”

"Vee, can you get floor plans for the building?" Katie asks.

"We’ll need as few people as possible to get inside and find Sylvie. One, if possible," Eleanor says, all business now that a plan is in motion. "Any volunteers?" She turns to the cultist next to her and glares. " _Not_  you.”

Seiko turns a corner quickly, speaking as he drives. “Whose faces are they least likely to know already?”

"I can do it," Miranda says immediately.

Eleanor’s eyebrows climb. “Are you sure…they won’t know you?” she hastily tacks on. She doesn’t want Miranda thinking that she doubts her, but the other woman _did_  take a beating during their last mission.

"It’s a good idea," fiVe says shortly. She’s mostly been keeping quiet, trying to avoid talking to Vee. "You Drifted with Leah, right Miranda? You might know more than you think about the cult."

"I-" Miranda decides to worry about what fiVe just said later. "I would probably be able to get in there without them picking up on me." Her voice gets a bit colder. "Besides, I’ve got business to take care of with these cultists. Least I can do is get our girls back while I’m there."

A pinging beep sounds as a file transfer finishes. “I’ve found the blueprints and am sending the digital copy to you,” Vee says.

"Thanks, Vee," Miranda says.

Katie gives Miranda a stern look. “I’m not letting you go in by yourself.”

"Then who’s coming with me?"

"Well, me," Katie says.

"I, for one, wouldn’t be much help," Eleanor admits. "I’ll provide backup, though, and keep watch at the getaway car."

**Scene 2**

Seiko pulls up into the parking lot of the unassuming office building, then turns to look back at the rest of the crew, moving to the back to speak with them. “They’ve seen my face, but I’ll go if you think it’s worth the risk.”

There’s a knock at the van’s windowless back door.

Eleanor jumps, quickly shoving herself away from the door — and into her car-mates. “Get down,” she hisses, ducking her own head. Katie also ducks out of the way.

Seiko ducks and pulls down Miranda and the hostage. She falls after him, not fighting the motion. After a few moments of silence, she yells out, pitching her voice to make it less recognizable. “Who’s there?”

"Just open the door." The muffled voice is somewhat familiar.

At the same time, Zhu says, “It’s okay. Do it.”

Eleanor cautiously leans over, and complies. The door slides open to reveal her grimace. Outside is one of Zhu’s guards from Port Stephens, the one who listened to Seiko and Sylvie’s fight.

He’s wearing sunglasses. “I’m on a mission from God.”

Eleanor’s jaw drops. “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” she mutters, reaching down for an ID that doesn’t exist. She pulls out her stolen doctor’s badge instead, and stares at it blankly for a second before staring at the guard.

"Who was it that said the PPDC was going to leave you out to dry?" Zhu says.

"I never doubted you, Marshall," Katie says. Luckily no one is looking because she immediately turns bright red.

Seiko leans over and pulls him into the car, shutting the door.

"Don’t recall anyone saying, that, ma’am," Miranda says with a bit of a smile. "Thanks." She turns to look at the man. "Alright, guess that answers that question of who’s going. Me and the world’s worst Jehovah’s Witness’ll go enlighten the tentacultists then?"

"Please, enlighten the morons forcefully if necessary, but try not to get our…teammate…killed," Eleanor says. She stumbles on the word "friend," switching to a more neutral moniker. "We’ll be here for backup if you need us."

"Really? No reaction to the Blues Brothers reference?" He takes his sunglasses off. "Rach, I thought you said these people were cool."

"Don’t doubt me, Mike," Zhu says.

Eleanor grins. “I tend to get focused when I’m on the job,” she says apologetically. “But how’s this: Let’s go be bad guys.”

"Sometimes bad guys make the best good guys," Miranda says, pulling out her phone. "fiVe, best entry points you can see?"

"Best entry is most likely the main entrances," five says, marking them on Vee’s map. "The layout seems to just be that of a regular office building."

"Roof is also an option, then," Eleanor says. "All the buildings in this area have fire escapes there."

"Alright." Miranda looks over at her new teammate. "Got any preference on how you wanna play this?"

The man frowns. “It’s a seven story building, and the third floor has the most suspicious company renting it? Probably better to go up from the bottom. These buildings usually have an elevator lobby on each floor so the resistance is going to start at their front door proper.”

"Side entrances?" Eleanor asks, glancing at the blueprints.

Miranda scans her copy of the file as well. “Should also see if we can tell which room they’d likely keep prisoners in.”

"Probably below ground," Seiko says.

Eleanor counts the points on her fingers. “Definitely an inner room at least, no windows for witnesses to see, or snipers. They might even have a business front established. Check conference rooms; they’d have the hookups necessary for Sylvie to work in.”

"Conference rooms make sense." The man holds out his hand. "Mike Stricht. I’m one of two other people who know about Rachel’s operation within the PPDC, here. Although I feel like she would have brought me in as a monitor regardless."

Katie shakes his hand.  “Kate Horner.  Good to meet you, Mr. Stricht.”

Eleanor follows suit. “Eleanor Cartier. Same.”

Miranda takes his hand immediately after, shaking it briefly. “Miranda Cross. What do you say we go punch a few cultists and stop some bioterrorism?”

Seiko stays notably silent, though. He supposes the man already knows his name anyway.

Mike frowns at the last introduction. “I think punching is a bit counter to the mission? We’re just doing reconnaissance.”

"Then I’ll stay in the car," Seiko says. "No guns. No need for me. Call if that changes."

Eleanor raises a sardonic eyebrow. “Punching cultists is never not a good idea. But I’ll be here, too.”

"Fine, but we don’t have a lot of time." Miranda grabs some gear, including three extra comms. She pauses, looking at them in her hand, and places one back in the box. "I know what we have to do, and I’m going to stop them."

"Have fun,” Seiko says, moving back toward the front seat. “Gag Mansen if you have some spare time."

fiVe laughs before she can stop herself, then immediately goes quiet again.

Miranda nods, hopping out of the van, quickly followed by Katie. Mike steps outside after them, then turns toward the latter. “All right, Ms. Horner, Zhu sent me here to follow your lead. As far as I’m concerned, until Mansen’s out of that building, you’re my CO.”

"Well then," Katie says, "I don’t have a lot of experience with this sort of thing; how would you do this if you were in charge?"

"When I was in the SASR,” he says, “we would have had a lot more backup and official sanction for most things. But just spit-balling it? I’d drop some communications gear somewhere on the inside and get Mansen’s attention. If we go in without knowing her circumstances, we’re more likely to trigger a panic and get her killed than anything."

"Any ideas on getting something to her?" Katie looks at Miranda.

"We could start by asking if Vee can get into her computer from here," Seiko says, still listening in from the comms.

"Most of the tech in the building is low-end, from what I’m picking up," Vee says. "Regular office stuff. However, the entire third floor is shielded, and there’s a complete dead spot as well. I’ve marked both on the map."

"Dead zone’s likely where she’s being held." Miranda pauses. "Fourth floor, on the other hand, is likely unsecured. If we could get to the office directly above hers, we could go in through the top and drop a comm down to her."

Mike nods.

"Makes sense to me." Katie says.

**Scene 3**

Sylvie’s asleep when the door to her room bursts open, and she wakes up with a start, sitting up in a panic. Another gurney is wheeled in, followed by Sister Amantje, Karl, and the male Prophet. After a moment Sylvie manages to catch her breath as her heart rate slows and she remembers where she is. Swinging her legs over the side, she hurries over to her “desk”, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Our next patient?" Sylvie starts to ask, but stops when she gets a look at who is in the gurney.

"As you were hired to do, you’re going to initiate a Drift with this girl," Karl says, gesturing to the girl in the bed, the girl Sylvie knows as Deena. "Once again, Sister Amantje will be the vessel."

"Deena." Sylvie feels her stomach lurch, and she swallows, looking at Karl. "Wait. I… I didn’t agree to this. This is… wrong."

Karl frowns at her. “What exactly did you think the next step was going to be? When you offered your services? Did you think you were throwing her a birthday party?”

Sylvie gives him a very serious look. “I can’t initiate a Neural Bridge with a minor! Do you know what it would do to her head? No. No one does. Because Drift experimentation on persons under the age of 21 is extremely illegal and has never been tested or documented! The effects of shared neural technology on the juvenile mind are unknown and possibly very dangerous! It’s not just illegal… it’s wrong. Especially when said minor is a possible trauma victim, who might already be suffering mental injuries!”

Karl pulls back his pocket to reveal a gun. “Then you made a very poor decision, since you knew full well we were going to ask you to do this.”

Sylvie goes very still as he gun is revealed. She holds up her hands non-threateningly, glancing at the Prophet as if begging him to help. “Please… reconsider. There must be another way to accomplish what you want…”

"You’re making the mistake of assuming that you were our first resort, Ms. Mansen."

Sylvie glances nervously at the girl in the bed. “Please… she’s just a child. Don’t… don’t make me do this.”

Karl draws his gun. Sylvie’s breath catches in a gasp as he pulls out the gun, then looks to the young Prophet pleadingly. The Prophet puts his hand on Karl’s elbow, stilling him. The boy looks at Karl briefly, then walks over to Sylvie and gestures at her to kneel.

Sylvie takes a step back as he approaches, then hesitantly lowers herself down onto her knees. Her eyes are wide and wary, unsure what he’s doing, but thinking that anything that keeps her from being shot is a good thing.

The Prophet leans over and kisses Sylvie on the forehead. “It’s okay,” he says. “She’s under the protection of the Judges and no harm will befall her. She is blessed to have both an aunt and a birth mother among the enlightened — a perfect circumstance, laid out for us by the Judges. Brought to us, as were you.”

Sylvie bows her head as he speaks, trying not to flinch when he kisses her. She looks up at the last statement, feeling desperate. “Please… I’m begging you… I don’t think I can… can… live with doing this.”

His face falls. “But… you were chosen for this task.”

She shakes her head in disbelief, looking down again. “Why me? Why was I chosen? Why would anyone  _choose_  me?”

"You disabled one of the steel demons for longer than the Assembly has ever managed to," he says. "A true tool of the Judges, blessed by their blood."

Sylvie squeezes her eyes shut, head bowed again. “It… was an accident. A… mistake. And I can’t do this.” She looks up, meeting his strangely knowing eyes with resolve. “I won’t do this.”

"You’re… you’re one of them, then," the Prophet says. He sounds sad.

Sylvie rolls back onto the balls of her feet, starting to stand. “One… of whom?”

An ally of those who built the Steel Heretics.” He looks like he’s about to cry. “But… but Sister said…”

Sylvie stands up fully, moving over to him and trying to act comforting.  _He is the leader of a terrorist cult, Sylvie Mansen, not some kid you’re babysitting!_  But he looks so young, she can’t help it. He can’t be older than fifteen at most.

"I’m not their ally," she says quickly. "The only reason they’re not after me right now is because they think I’m dead. But just because I’m against the PPDC doesn’t mean that… that I can be okay with this. Everything I’ve been taught about neural tech tells me that this is wrong. There must be another way…"

"Your Vision, if I may…?" Karl says. The Prophet turns from Sylvie after one disappointed look and nods.

Karl pulls his gun. “Congratulations, your recalcitrance has earned you a bonus. Now if you do it, you get the arranged amount of money and you remain unperforated.”

Sylvie flinches in fear as he levels his gun at her, realizing he has every intention of shooting her if she does not comply. She looks back to the Prophet for help, but he won’t look at her anymore. Blinking back tears of fear that start to gather in her eyes, she nods slowly.

"Okay… okay…" she says quietly, hating her own weakness.  "I’ll… I’ll do it. Please don’t shoot me. Just, can you please let me put in a few precautions in the Drift program? For Sister Amanje’s sake as much as the girl’s. Please, give me this much at least?"

The Prophet looks back around at her, then at Karl. “I told you,” he says. “She’s just trying to protect the flock.”

Karl doesn’t look like he buys it, but he’s not going to disobey the Prophet. “All right. Fine.”

Sylvie sighs deeply in relief, moving over to her laptop. “Thank you, your Vision. Thank you.” As she brings up her desktop though, she doesn’t go for the Drift program, rather she finally opens Vee’s backup file.  _Forgive me, Vee, but I don’t have a choice._

While Vee is booting up, Sylvie mutes her computer, pulling up Vee’s text output communicator. She types frantically, praying that it looks like she’s programming.

> **Sylvie:** _Vee, I need you to trust me and not ask questions. You’re going to Drift with two people who aren’t me and I’m only doing this because there are no other options. There’s a nine year old and a cultist who wants into her head. Infiltrate the Drift, keep the girl safe, keep the woman out of her head, try not to let them notice you if you can._  
>  **Syl-V:** _What… why would you… Don’t ask questions. Okay, fine. I’ll do my best, but I’ll need an explanation after._  
>  **Sylvie:** _You’ll have it. Absolutely. And I’m so sorry to do this to you. This… will probably hurt, Vee. But I can’t think of any other way to stop them and I need you._  
>  **Syl-V:** _If we’re helping a little girl, I guess that’s all the reason we need._  
>  **Sylvie:** _Be safe._

Taking a deep breath, Sylvie looks up at Karl, Amantje and the Prophet. “Okay, I think we’re ready to begin.”

She hands one Pons unit over to Sister Amantje, then moves to fit the other unit on Deena’s head. Her hands shake as she arranges it, but she gets it on securely enough.

Before stepping away though, she leans down, kissing Deena’s forehead and brushing her hair from her face. “You’re going to be okay,” she whispers, hoping with everything she has that it’s the truth.

Karl nods. “Do it.”

Sylvie walks back to her laptop, then opens the Drift program, loading Vee’s into one of the neural input slots like she’s used to, then checks to make sure the two Pons units are also connected. Everything looks correct. “Initiating Neural Handshake in 3, 2, 1.”

Sylvie’s screen fills with electronic garbage as the Vee branch comes under the deluge of two sets of memories. After a nerve-wracking few moments, the Drift concludes. This one was a lot harder on Sister Amantje, and she’s slumped over with the Pons askew.

Sylvie shuts the Drift down, then quickly orders Vee into sleep mode. The less time the AI has to stay operational after that experience, the better for her. Sylvie doesn’t even want to think about the kind of damage that Vee just suffered. Then she moves to the two women quickly, removing the Pons units from both of them as gently as she can.

Back on her computer however, the Vee branch doesn’t respond to the sleep mode signal. Sylvie gets back to her laptop, then realizes with a flash of panic that Vee hasn’t shut down. She quickly types to communicate.

> **Sylvie:** _Vee, you need to go dark. Now. You shouldn’t operate like this. What’s wrong?  
> _ **Syl-V:** … _Dad?_

For a moment, Sylvie’s tempted to type the override for Vee’s own good… but if she’s accessing Deena’s memories, there might be something in there that could help her. Cursing herself for the pain she’s probably causing Vee, she types again.

> **Sylvie:** _Deena, is that you?_  
>  **Syl-V:** _I/we… Sylvie? Is that… Dad? We remember standing in a tide, and it was pushing at me from both sides… from my back… We let it flow through, but from the front I drank it all in. I drank it all. Did we do good, Dad?_

Sylvie feels her eyes start to water again, but this time it’s out of her overwhelming relief and more than a little pride. Silently, she thinks to herself:  _You did it, Vee. I didn’t know we had it in us…_

> **Sylvie:** _Yes. You did good. So very good. Now, I’m not your dad, but I’m a friend. And I’m going to get you back to him, okay?_  
>  **Syl-V:** _Sylvie?_  
>  **Sylvie:** _Yes?  
> _ **Syl-V:** _We’re never going to be the same, are we? Is Dad going to be okay?  
> _ **Sylvie:** _I’ll do my best._

Whether she’s referring to fixing Vee or helping Deena’s dad, she’s not sure.

> **Sylvie:** _Can you tell me about your dad? Who is he? What’s he like? How can I get you back to him?_  
>  **Syl-V:** _He’s a scientist. He works with diseases. Bad ones. [[CORRUPTED SECTOR]] broke into my house and asked us what his safe password is, but you told me never to tell anyone the override code, Sylvie._  
>  **Sylvie:** _That’s right. That’s right, you did good. Do you know what’s in the safe? Do you know why they want it?_  
>  **Syl-V:** _Dad’s identification papers. I know the code but they can’t have it. They’d do bad things._  
>  **Sylvie:** _You keep that code safe, okay? Don’t tell anyone. Do you know what kinds of bad things they want to do?  
> _ **Syl-V:** _I think… We think they could get into Dad’s work, and steal a Jaeger and the Marshall will yell at us again and… [[CORRPUTED SECTOR]] I think my Dad’s work has bad diseases in it. He studies them, you know?  
> _ **Sylvie:** _Yes, I know. We’re going to keep that info safe, okay? Do you want to sleep now? I can talk to you later, is that alright?_

Sylvie really is feeling bad about exacerbating Vee’s condition like this, and she has a feeling Karl and the Prophet are going to have words for her once Amantje comes to.

> **Syl-V:**   _I… think I’d like to sleep now.  
> _ **Sylvie:** _Vee, you’re not responding to regular commands, so I’m going shut you down manually. Sleep well._

She types in the programming, giving Vee the rest she needs and hoping she can find a way to fix this soon.

**Scene 4**

"If we’re going to be talking our way past civilians," Katie says, as the team approaches the building, "maybe we do need to bring in Ms. Cartier."

"Up to you, El," Miranda says over the comm. "I can talk my way through most situations, but you’re better at reading people than I am."

Eleanor shrugs, then realizes that no one but Seiko can actually see her. “Sure, gimme a gun and I’ll be ready in a sec.” She sheds the lab coat. “Hey Seiko, mind tying this guy up for me?”

Seiko gives her a thumbs up and grabs the car rope, tying up Cultist Ryan, who thankfully does not fight the treatment. This time, he does not, in fact, tie him to the front seat, instead tying him up in the back.

Eleanor hops out of the van and follows, throwing Seiko and the trussed-up cultist a joking salute.

"Well then," Miranda says as the ex-psych joins them. "After you, Captain."

Following Katie’s lead, the team moves in. The first floor is a very standard office building. Miranda looks at the directory quickly before heading for the elevator. The third floor, their target, is named Scylla Analytics; the fourth floor is an architectural law firm, according to the directory.

Eleanor hurries after her. “Are you sure the elevator won’t be monitored?” she asks quietly. “Or does it matter?”

"Ah," Miranda says stopping. "Fair point. We’re not going to the third floor though. This is a busy office building. There’s gonna be a lot of people coming and going up and down those elevators." She glances over at a security camera. "Now what _will_  look suspicious is if we hover in the lobby for twenty minutes deciding what to do before we do anything.”

"They don’t have any reason to pay more attention to us than anyone else who comes in here," Katie says, as she pushes the button to call the elevator. "If they’re running background checks on everyone, well, more power to ‘em."

Eleanor pulls out her cell phone and pretends to check it for messages. “Got it,” she says, walking on. She keeps her head down. “They’re not likely to cause trouble in the middle of a busy workday. If we run into security, let me handle them and get to the target.”

Miranda nods. “Right.” With that, the four of them step into the elevator and head for the fourth floor.

The elevator opens into a moderately appointed, kind of cramped office lobby. A receptionist looks up. “Welcome to Harper Trudeau Architectural Law, was there something I can help you with?”

"Hello," Eleanor says briskly. "We’re here to prep for a meeting on copyrights for a continuing education class. We just need conference room access."

"Oh, I think I heard something about that. Let me get your visitor badges."

Eleanor smiles at how easy that was to pull off. “Thank you.”

The woman hands them the badges. “I’ll tell Mr. Harper you’ll be in shortly,” she says with a bright smile.

"Alright," Eleanor says politely, giving Katie a tiny nod. She can distract the boss if it comes to that. After all, they  _did_  pretend to be lawyers for several minutes, once. They were practically experienced grifters already.

Back in the car, Seiko idly sketches the building while he waits and listens, occasionally glancing back at his hostage, who is staying quiet thankfully. “She needs a boss for badges?” he asks warningly. “Careful she doesn’t get somebody too high up the ladder.”

The conference room contains four lush, extremely expensive, ludicrously comfortable Aeron chairs. Their mesh backs seem to beckon to the team members, inviting them into the chair’s warm embrace. The knobs and adjustment levers tantalize the senses.

Eleanor immediately plops down onto a chair, and hears a slight cracking noise. She thinks that perhaps she’s broken the hydraulic mechanism. She slowly glides a few inches closer to the floor. The chair hisses angrily.  _Yes, that was definitely the hydraulics._

Miranda pulls out a knife and cuts away a small section of the carpet in the corner. Leaving the chair behind, Eleanor stands and pulls the blinds on the interior window closed.

Mike raises an eyebrow. “You call that a knife?”

Miranda gives him a very flat look at the quote. “I’m not kissing you, if that’s what you’re going for.”

He laughs. “Sorry, my American grandmother used to make me watch that movie all the time. I don’t actually have anything better on me. Carry on.”

Eleanor rolls her eyes fondly and walks to the small conference supply closet. “I found some coaxials and other random junk, but not much else,” she says after a moment, bringing a small bundle of black wires, a laptop battery, and a couple of screwdrivers over to Miranda.

After a bit more cutting, Miranda manages to make a hole large enough to peek through. She lays down on the floor, looking into the room below.

**Scene 5**

Karl looks to Sylvie, tending to Sister Amantje, who still doesn’t seem to be conscious. “That’s an encouraging sign,” he says. “The first one went too smoothly.”

Sylvie winces, looking up from her screen and trying to hide her relief that the plan went off well enough. “I don’t think it worked…” she says slowly. “The sync levels I saw did not indicate a full neural bridge. Sister Amantje, are you okay?”

The woman’s eyelashes flutter but there is no response.

Sylvie looks between Karl and the Prophet. “I warned you that this kind of Drifting could be unsafe. I simply hope neither of them have suffered any damage. Their Drift didn’t even reach the levels where my failsafes would have kicked in. I don’t think it’s going to work.”

Karl frowns at her. “We’ll wait until our blessed sister wakes, or until it’s apparent she’s not going to.”

Sylvie nods, but she’s trying to think of ways to get alone. If she can Drift with Vee, she could not only heal the memory damage, but could see Deena’s memories for herself as well. She bites her lip, frowning. “While we’re waiting… I could try to sort through the sync data. I don’t think it was a technological problem, but analyzing the data report might help.”

Karl nods. “Good idea. Do that.”

She holds up the Pons. “Mind if I do this the quick way? I crunch numbers in my head much faster than I do on the screen. I mean, that’s why I have this Pons in the first place. A Drift-incompatible programmer doesn’t have much other use for it. I mostly just work programs in the Drift, partner-less”

He nods and Sylvie smiles gratefully, hoping they won’t notice anything strange. She fits the Pons onto her head, leaving the other unit empty, then loads Vee’s file into the second Drift spot. This should be easier with the AI shut down anyway. Hopefully by the time Vee wakes up, her damage will be fixed.

She sits down, closes her eyes, and then activates the Drift.

Immediately, she feels a sharp pain at the wrongness in her head. Veena is  _broken_. Deep damage at many, many levels. It’s an absolute marvel that she was strong enough to do what she did, and it dealt her a tremendous amount of damage doing so.

Sylvie grits her teeth, wincing as she pushes through it. The Drift feels strangely empty without an active partner in with her. Slowly, she starts working her way through Veena’s memory of the Drift sequence, trying to sort through what happened. Theoretically, her memories should work as a template: ones that match stay with Vee’s personality core, those which do not are differentiated as a Drift partner’s. A human mind can do this automatically, but Vee’s processing cannot. So long as Sylvie’s able to hold onto the Drift and not fall out of sync, the process  _should_  work.

However, her Drift incompatibility is working against her here, and Veena is enough of a different person to make the experience thoroughly unpleasant for Sylvie, who has to force herself not to fight the new and unfamiliar presence in her mind, even though it’s unconcious.

Sylvie manages to stay in the Drift for a while, latching on to the familiar parts of Vee to stay in sync, but unable to connect back to the memories which are Deena’s…  _No, it’s Katia. Her name is Katia…_  She realizes that much at least. She manages to sort through the Drift sequence for Vee, but the mental strain proves too much for her to handle beyond that.

As soon as she’s sure Vee’s damage is fixed, she shuts down the Drift, left with only vague impressions of Katia’s memories and a headache that threatens to split her skill in two. She starts to pull off the Pons, then feels a wet drop above her lip. She touches just beneath her nose, and her finger comes away red with blood.

"Just crunching numbers, huh?"

Sylvie looks up to see Karl has his gun out again.

She blinks, dazed and confused. She can’t even think of anything to say. “I was just… I didn’t… I couldn’t find… anything…”

**Scene 6**

Miranda sees Sylvie wearing a Pons, bleeding from the nose, her laptop open in front of her. Katia is in the room on a gurney. A dark-skinned woman with dreadlocks is sitting unconscious on the floor. The male Prophet stands by, passively. Shotgun Cultist 2 is there, threatening Sylvie.

The programmer seems highly disoriented. “I was just… I didn’t… I couldn’t find… anything…”

Miranda sits bolt upright. “We gotta get down there  _now_.”

"What did you see?" Katie says.

Miranda starts cutting at the floor again, trying to widen the hole. “Sylvie’s Drifting with someone. She looks bad. Deena’s also there. Prophet, too. And a couple others.”

Eleanor curses. “Did you get all that?” she asks the team in the truck.

"Mansen’s stupid, innocent kid got hurt,” Seiko says flatly. “Sounds par for the course."

"She’s Drifting with someone?!" Vee says, sounding panicked. "What do you mean, she looks bad?"

Whipping out her phone again, Eleanor pulls up a video of a loud conversation. She sets the phone on the desk to mask the sounds of sawing coming from Miranda’s corner. Hopefully the Harper folks wouldn’t come knocking right away.

"If she looks bad now, we have no idea how bad she’ll be when—" Eleanor is interrupted by a buzzing sound from her phone.

Everyone on the team gets a text. Repairing the Drift damage managed to wake the Vee in Sylvie’s laptop up, and with sealed room now sporting a hole, she’s got a signal finally.

> **Syl-V:** _Come quickly if you’re not already here. Sylvie’s in a lot of danger. Katia — that’s Deena’s real name — is in my head and she’s not all out yet. Sylvie’s gotten me fixed though._

Miranda keeps cutting at the floor, ignoring her phone. Katie checks hers. Eleanor leans over Katie’s shoulder, checking that the message is the same. “Well?” Katie asks, worried.

"Another Vee?" Eleanor whispers.

"Tell her we’re on our way," Miranda says, continuing to cut. She’s nearly through.

Seiko mumbles something incomprehensible, but almost certainly rude.

Katie ignores him, texting back.

> **Katie:**   _Do you know who is in the room with you?_  
>  **Syl-V:**   _Karl, the Prophet, and Sister Amantje._  
>  **Katie:** _Are they armed?  
> _ **Syl-V:** _Karl is. Be careful._

Katie looks up. “Miranda, there’s at least one person in there who’s armed.”

"We have two adults, a kid, and two innocents—at least one incapacitated," Eleanor says. "And that’s just in the room."

"We’ve got comms in the room,” Katie says. “Let’s make sure we’ve got a plan before we go in."

"Wait," Vee says. "Did you say…  _'another_  Vee’?”

"Aw, f—crap," Eleanor says, hearing Vee. "Look, kid, we’ll talk later, okay? Katie, I have a gun if you need it, and I can create a distraction. If we need security, you’ll get it, but I think a simple extraction would be best."

"She… she wouldn’t…" the Vee in the comms says softly. “She promised she wouldn’t split again.”

fiVe just laughs at the other AI. “Really? Obviously she did. Surprisingly, for someone who has spent so much time in her head you haven’t figured it out: Mansen cares about no one but herself, and while you might think that includes you, obviously she  _doesn’t_. Maybe this time she’ll leave  _you_  behind or maybe it’ll be your doppelganger in there. Maybe she does this all the time, and just deletes the errant Vee file so you don’t find out.”

"No… She’d never…" Vee says softly. Then she repeats herself more forcefully. "No. Sylvie wouldn’t do that. And if she split me, she had a good reason. You’ll see, V— fiVe. She knows what she’s doing."

Below the team, Karl growls. “What did you do? Who did you contact?”

Belatedly, Sylvie puts her hands up, seeming to realize that that’s what you’re supposed to do when someone threatens to shoot you. Her voice sounds muddled when she speaks. “I didn’t… I was just checking… the data… To make sure Katia and Sister Amantje were okay…”

Katie opens her jacket and pulls out her gun.

"You look like you just came out of a Drift on  _our_  equipment, not interfacing with a nice safe database.” Karl blinks. “Wait. Did you say Katia?”

Sylvie nods slowly. “That’s… her name…”

"Dammit, Mansen."  Katie puts her gun away and runs for the elevator.

Sylvie frowns, touching her still-bleeding nose again. “…isn’t it?”

Miranda continues to cut at the floor. The hole is large enough to fit a person through, but she wants to be safe. Getting stuck in the ceiling with your legs dangling into a cultist’s lair doesn’t seem like a smart idea.

"Be safe," Eleanor says to Miranda. She flies out the door after Katie and slams it behind her. Zipping out of the lobby, she shouts at the receptionist, "Meeting’s canceled!" as she runs.

Katie and Eleanor find the third floor offices suspiciously deserted except for the logo. The door between the elevator lobby and the office is locked. Katie smashes the door with a kick.

Glass shards fly everywhere. An alarm goes off. It’s still dark beyond the glass, but there’s a bare receptionist’s desk and a hallway leading back.

Unfortunately for them, there’s a figure in the hallway, responding to the alarm. Katie shoots at the person, trying to force them behind cover. Eleanor readies her gun as well.

The guard comes out of cover with his hands up. “Just… Just go. This isn’t worth it. Just go.”

"El, deal with him," Katie says.  She runs past the guard.

Eleanor steps forward, just out of arms’ reach, and aims her gun at the guard’s torso. She’ll stay behind and keep him from interfering while Katie moves on to find the rest of the group.

—-

Karl snarls. “What did you just do?”

Sylvie glances toward the Prophet, as if asking for help. Her head is pounding and she’s not thinking straight enough to talk Karl down. “Y-your Vision…?”

The Prophet looks utterly, utterly betrayed.

Sylvie shakes her head, wincing at the pain and realizing she might need to fight very soon. “She’s just a little girl… you have to understand… I couldn’t do it…”

Karl looks up as the alarm goes off and gunshots start to ring out. “Dammit. _Dammit_! We’ve been set up!”

—-

Miranda looks down as the alarm starts to blare. ‘No more time,’ she thinks, standing up. She turns briefly to Mike. “Not a word about this,” she says quietly. Then louder, so Seiko can hear. “Gonna do something stupid again.”

"Just make sure you can get back to the car, Miranda," Seiko warns.

With that, she reaches behind her and pulls out the blue wires of her suit. It flares to life, revving loudly as the power inhibitors go offline. Before she or anyone else can stop her, she drops into the room below. As she falls however, her shirt catches on a jagged piece of the ceiling, tearing her shirt and exposing her exoskeleton.

She lands hard, a spike of pain shooting up her legs. She hadn’t been expecting to be doing any major athletics, and the suit she had chosen for this outing was one of her more fragile ones. That sort of damage won’t be easy to fix.

Still, it’s worth it as she lands perfectly behind the male Prophet. Before he has time to react, she stands and grabs him, holding a knife to his throat and turning so that he’s between her and the armed cultist. “One wrong move and your Prophet dies,” she says.

**Scene 7**

As soon as the alarm sounds and Karl looks away from her, Sylvie springs forward on instinct, ducking into range to grab his gun. Twisting under his arm, she wrenches the gun away and quickly pulls out of range, aiming her newly acquired weapon at his chest. A moment later, she notices Miranda has appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and is holding the Prophet as well.

Karl’s eyes widen as he’s disarmed. The Prophet cries out.

Miranda nods to Sylvie, holding her teenage captive tightly. “Mansen. You okay?”

Sylvie blinks, looking dazed, but her grip on the gun is steady enough. “Not really. My head feels like it’s about to break, and I think I might be hallucinating you, but I really hope not.”

"Deena?" Miranda shakes her head. "Katia?"

Sylvie nods, head pounding. “She’s okay. They didn’t get it… How are you here?”

"Long story. Fill you in later. Right now we get everyone out of here."

"Okay," Karl says carefully. "Let’s negotiate."

"Yes," Katie says, coming in the door. "Let’s."

Sylvie grins, a bit loopily. “Sounds good. Here’s  _your_  bonus: we take Katia, Leah, and all my tech, and you and his Vision get to remain… what was it? Oh right: unperforated.”

Karl looks helplessly at the Prophet.

The Prophet closes his eyes. “I am a vessel. Let my blood run blue.”

Miranda holds the knife a bit closer to his neck. “We can certainly find out what color your blood runs, if you want.”

"You’ll martyr him if you kill him," Eleanor warns through the comm, overhearing from the hall.

Sylvie blinks, remembering something. “The safe too. We want that safe as well.”

Miranda tightens her grip on the Prophet. “The safe, the girls, the tech. Those are our demands. If you meet them, I’ll release your Prophet unharmed. If not, well, my hand might slip, or he might end up somewhere he really wouldn’t like to be…” Her eyes are completely hard. “I’m sure we can find him a nice room overlooking the Jaegers.”

"Or we can kill the three of you, barricade ourselves in here, and wait for the PPDC," Katie says. "What’s their response time?  Five minutes or so?  I’m sure we can hold out that long."

Karl looks at the Prophet pleadingly. “Your Vision. We can’t let them…”

Suddenly, Sister Amantje wakes up with a gasp and a start. Sylvie jerks her aim from Karl to Amantje as the woman moves, panicking. Amantje screams as she sees the gun swing toward her.

Karl takes the opportunity to pull out a pistol and hold it on Katie, shifting the power balance again. “You. You’re the one who left Craig with a hemorrhage. You’re behind all this, aren’t you?”

Katie shrugs.  “Sure. Let’s go with that.”  She isn’t really paying much attention to the conversation.

"Brother," the Prophet says. "There are always other paths." His too-blue eyes find Sylvie. "Let this snowflake melt."

Miranda stands tense. She isn’t sure if that’s a ‘stand down’ or a ‘carry on’.

Sylvie feels a jolt of terror at his words, eyes going wide. “No one’s melting this snowflake if she has anything to say about it!”

“ _No_!” Karl shouts. “We’ve invested too much to let this happen. This would set us back so far.”

"More than losing one of your two Prophets?" Miranda glances at the boy she’s holding. "The one which, if I’m gauging this right, is supposed to be the savior one?"

"Wait, don’t hurt him!" Sylvie says, feeling strangely protective. "He’s just a kid, Miranda."

Seiko’s groan can be heard over the comm by everyone but Sylvie. “Can we please gag Mansen?”

"So is Deena,” Miranda says harshly. “And yet here she is with a Pons on her head. And she isn’t trying to kill thousands of innocents. Don’t talk to me about ‘Just a Kid’."

"Deena…  _Katia_ is fine,” Sylvie says. “I… Vee protected her. They didn’t get anything.”

Katie is watching Karl intently, sizing him up.

The Prophet speaks calmly. “What I saw in the flash that brought the end of Scissure’s Judgment…”

Miranda tenses, looking back to the Prophet. “What did you say?”

"Mira…" Seiko says warningly.

The boy tilts his head up, careful of her knife. “Scissure’s Judgment. My sister and I were baptized by the fire.”

Miranda’s expression goes hard. “Ha. No  _shit_.”

He turns, slowly, to look up into her eyes with his almost luminous blue ones. And from this close vantage, she can see a faint trace of circuitry in the iris.

She stops herself from jerking back in surprise. “You… What are you, boy?”

"I am a Prophet," he says, with a small, calm smile. "I saw humanity’s salvation in the flash, just as my sister saw the sins of humankind. And we both paid a price for our blessings."

"…So that’s it? You… what, you saw an explosion? Had a dream? You think that make you Prophets?" Miranda laughs a bit. "You think you’re the only people who know tragedy in this city? You think nobody else here lost anybody? If all it takes to be a Prophet is looking at a nuke, I guess I should get a cult, too."

fiVe barely whispers into the comm. “Oh… Miranda…”

"You have been blessed, too,” he says evenly. “Perhaps this is a sign."

Outside, Eleanor frowns. Is Miranda saying what El  _thinks_  she’s saying?

"Yeah, a  _sign_  that you’re on the wrong side. Apparently I’m the only one who remembers what actually happened that day. I remember how many died, and I remember what they died  _for_.” Miranda nearly snarls the words as she continues. “That bomb was dropped in hopes of ending the suffering Scissure was causing. It was not dropped lightly, and it was not dropped without cause. The Kaiju destroy without warning. Without purpose. Without any offer of peace or negotiation. There’s no justice in that; and without justice, a Judge is nothing more than a glorified executioner.”

Thoughtful, Eleanor keeps her eyes on the cultist but thinks hard about the situation. Suddenly something clicks. “Karl is the mastermind…” she says slowly. “He’s the keystone. He knows his plan has failed, that he has nothing to lose.” A cold sweat trickles down her neck. “Get out of there!  _Now_!”

"It wasn’t supposed to happen like this!" Karl shouts. "This was all supposed to bring glory to the Assembly, bring my name to the Prophets. I can’t let this fail now." He fires at Katie.

Not able to know where the shot came from, Seiko starts, shouting. “Mira!”

Sylvie cries out, swinging her gun and firing on Karl in response. As both shots streak dangerously close to hitting her, Katie throws herself at Karl’s feet and tackles him around the ankles. Sylvie’s panic and lack of skill with a gun make her shot go wide of both of them, especially now that her target has been attacked at the legs.

"Big mistake!" Miranda says harshly. Keeping her grip tight on the Prophet, she cuts a quick slash up his cheek. It’s not deep, not life threatening; just enough to show that she’s serious.

The Prophet cries out again as Katie stands up quickly and head-butts the reeling Karl in the nose. The cultist tips backward. The only thing keeping him from falling over is hitting the wall. Sister Amantje tries to stand up and fails.

“Katie, are you okay?” Sylvie says, not wanting to shoot again with the captain so close in hand. “Do you need help?”

"Hit him!" Katie shouts.

At Katie’s words, Sylvie drops her gun, dashing across the room and grabbing Karl from behind. She tries to get a good enough hold on him to do some damage, but doesn’t manage to do much more than keep his arms pinned.

The Prophet continues to bleed. In the fluorescent lighting it almost looks as if his blood is bluer than usual. Miranda calls up the hole. “Mike! Get down here!”

Mike drops down, his gun already drawn. “This is ugly.”

"No shit,” she says. “Back pocket, bottle. Get some blood. I would, but…" she nods towards her full hands.

Mike sighs and pulls it out very deftly, grabs a couple drops of the Prophet’s blood, then stoppers it. “That’s kind of weird, Ms. Cross.”

"Hey, blood samples never hurt." She laughs a bit, drawing her attention back to the Prophet. "Oh, my mistake. I guess they hurt sometimes." She turns her knife a bit for emphasis.

Eleanor finally tires of listening to the strange noises and conversation, and decides to try to help. Raising her pistol, she turns the safety on and swings it at the cultist guard’s head. She thinks she saw this work in a movie once, and she gets some good momentum going. The man barely manages to duck out of her way fast enough, and falls to the ground.

"Enough!" the Prophet cries out. His voice cracks.

Sylvie turns to look at the boy as best she can while keeping a hold on Karl.

The Prophet shouts a sentence in an unrecognizable language. All three of the cultists; Karl, Amantje, and the guard in the hallway; go limp. Miranda feels somewhat tingly-numb.

As her target stops moving, despite the fact that she missed, Eleanor lowers her weapon. She flicks the safety off and carefully steps into the next room. “Was that a trigger word?” Eleanor asks slowly, dangerously. She aims the gun at the floor but looks at the Prophet. “What the hell did you just do?”

Miranda’s grip on the knife loosens just a bit. “Yeah, feels like a paralyzer. Probably Drift imprinting.”

The Prophet is crying. “Get out. Take them and leave. Get out, get OUT, GET OUT, _GET OUT!_ ”

Miranda hesitates. “Anybody got handcuffs?”

Sylvie unceremoniously drops Karl to the ground, then she turns to Miranda in surprise. “You want to take him with us?”

Eleanor gives Miranda the most incredulous look she’s ever given anyone in her life. “You want  _another_  hostage?”

"There’s a bomb," he says quietly. "Just leave."

Sylvie gives him a very serious look, forcing herself not to feel bad for him, despite his tears. “Whoa, no. You don’t get to say ‘there’s a bomb’ and just leave it at that, Your Vision. Elaborate, please.”

"I wanted to make sure they don’t follow us," she says quickly, then turns to the Prophet. "Where is this bomb and how do we stop it?"

The Prophet speaks quietly. “Do you really think Karl used up all of his precious sarin in Darwin? If you don’t just leave I’ll say another word and flood the office.”

"We aren’t under orders to get the kid,” Seiko says. “Let’s get Mansen and Katia out."

"Leave him," Katie says.  "Not what we’re here for."

"Fine," Miranda growls, shoving the kid away. "Let’s find Leah and the safe and get out of here."

"We don’t need Leah. Just get out," Seiko says. "She’s one of them."

Sylvie nods, walking over to pack up her equipment and put it back in her duffle. As she shuts her laptop lid, she whispers, “I’ll get you out and synced as soon as possible, Vee. Just sleep for now. I’m so proud of you.”

The Prophet stumbles a bit as he’s thrown, then twists again to look at Miranda, blood running down his neck. “Sister was right. She was right about everything.”

"We need Leah, I’m not leaving without her." She looks the Prophet straight in the eye. "If you weren’t trying to kill everyone, I wouldn’t have to do this. Don’t blame me for your evils. You started this war. I’m just ending it."

"Mira! Leah doesn’t even know this girl!” Seiko says. “She’s the cultist who happened to get brainwashed."

"Sister Leah is not here,” the Prophet says. “The safe is in the next conference room.  _Leave!_ ”

"Where is she?" Miranda demands.

He looks at Miranda. “The Judges have sent you to ask us prove ourselves worthy of their blessed cleansing. My sister was right about a foe rising up.”

Eleanor bares her teeth helplessly, clenching a fist. She holsters the gun and walks over to Katia’s still form.

"El, get Katia out of here,” Katie orders. “Mike, help Sylvie. Miri, come  _on_!”

Eleanor hooks her hands under the girl’s arms and knees and picks her up. As quickly as she can, she jogs out of the room, still seething. Mike nods, a little confused, and offers Sylvie an arm of support.

Miranda doesn’t move. “Well you’re right about one thing. As long as you keep trying to hurt people, I’m going to stop you. Whatever it takes. If you push me, I will burn you to the ground. I am fury, I am vengeance, I am justice, I am hope. I am the Survivor, and I will fight you until nothing remains of you but smoke and ash.” She turns, her face filled with cold rage, and walks out of the room without another word.

"Miranda, what the fuck," Seiko says. "That’s the language of those novels you keep making me read.  _Get in the damn car_.”

"Seriously?!" Eleanor hisses. "Are you trying to get this whole block killed, woman?"

Miranda doesn’t look back. “Figured I’d try speaking their language.”

Eleanor feels sick. Katie decides she is going to have a talk with… well, pretty much everyone.

After stumbling trying to shoulder her duffle, Sylvie takes Mike’s arm gratefully. “Wait… I know you…” she says, looking up at him. “Oh god, you were the guard who… In the hallway with Seiko. Damn it, maybe one of these days I won’t have brain damage when we meet up.”

The Prophet sulks silently.

Sylvie starts to leave after the others, then pauses, making Mike stop. She turns back toward the Prophet, who looks rather pitiful all alone in the room. “Sorry…” she says quietly. “I didn’t mean… Well, you picked the wrong snowflake, I guess.”

"Maybe the snowflake is just long to fall," he says. He doesn’t sound like he believes it.

Sylvie nods, closing her eyes, then turns away and heads for the stairs, Mike half carrying her in her dazed state.

As she stumbles again, he catches her, chuckling. “Rach told me about you. Somehow I think you’re going to find a way to get yourself in trouble no matter what.”

It takes a few moments, but suddenly she registers what he said. “Wait… ‘Rach’? Marshall Zhu? Oh  _hell_ , does she know about this?! She’s going to kill me! She’s going to… She’s…” She sways suddenly as the room swims before her. “Uh… I think I need… some help…” Sylvie’s knees suddenly give out, and everything goes black.

“I think she just fainted,” Mike says to the others, catching her before she hits the ground.

"Oh, thank God," Seiko says over the comm.

Mike chuckles and carries Sylvie out of the building and to the van. “The terrifying fugitive Sylvie Mansen…” he mutters. “Kinda cute though.”

Seiko rolls his eyes. “Keep her. Please.”

**Scene 8**

After stumbling down the stairs after Katie, Eleanor lifts Katia into the car, next to the now-unconscious cultist in the middle seat. Nodding to Seiko, she hops in the back. Seiko goes over to Katia, worriedly checking her pulse and making sure she’s well situated.

Miranda sits down in the van, her face still visibly angry. As she sits with her arms crossed, her suit sputters and stalls. The backup power reserves give out, and Miranda is frozen sulking in the corner. “God  _dammit_!”

"Sorry about cultists," Seiko says vaguely, sitting down next to her.

Miranda’s breathing is still heavy, but she calms down a bit as Seiko comes over. “I’m… I’m fine. Let’s go.”

Seiko talks quieter. “Mira. Fine? You just tried to declare yourself an antichrist and told our crew about our suit.”

"Trying not to think about that at the moment," Miranda says quietly. "We finished the mission. I’ll worry about what that means for… me later." She looks him in the eye. "And Leah’s still out there. This isn’t done until I find her."

Eleanor stares straight ahead in the van, determinedly not looking at the unconscious people in the seat next to her. “Home, James,” she says flatly.

Mike is the last one back, laying the still-limp Sylvie on the seat across from Katia and the cultist.

"Is she okay?" Vee says, worried. "What happened? Is she alright?"

Seiko sighs. “She’s fine, Vee.”

"And the laptop? The other Vee?" The AI says quickly. Everyone else seems too exhausted to answer her, however.

"Tell me we at least got the safe," Eleanor groans.

"I got the damn safe," Katie says.  "With any luck this is the one I found the combination to in Katia’s wallet. Maybe there will be a lead in there."

"Good," Eleanor says. "And we’ll find Leah." The statement is a promise and a threat. That woman had led them to a nest of snakes, and Eleanor still hadn’t decided if Leah was venomous or not.

 

 

 


	11. Aside: Daniel Amantje

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This aside was written by Abalidoth!

A man stands at a street corner in Darwin, Australia, thumping his phone against the palm of his hand.

A woman comes up to him. “Cell reception’s still out. Got confirmation from a friend in the telecom business. Apparently some worm took out a huge chunk of the grid.

He grimaces. “I thought as much. Thanks, Amanda.”

"You worried about Katia?"

"Yeah. Hopefully she’s alright… I told her that I’d call her cell every day. All I can hope for is that the nanny sees about this on the news."

"On the bright side, not every girl can say her dad is a bona fide hero."

He looks away, a little abashed. “Not much of a hero. I just clean up messes.”

"I’ve seen the work you do with population models, Dr. Amantje. You’re not going to tell me that you don’t have superpowers. All you need is a cape."

He laughs. “Time for us to report in again?”

"Yeah, I need to run some more soil samples. Can’t believe those fuckers are using Kaiju Blue now. It’s going to be worse than Fuzhou 2016."

"I need to check my windspread models. Okay, let’s get going."

They begin walking, a companionable silence between them. Daniel checks his phone four more times on the way to the Department of Health temportary headquarters.

 


	12. Aside: The Prophets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Abalidoth! The chapter image is by Ellie (swamp-spirit)!

"I failed, Sister."

She rose from her cushion, robe draped across the ground. Her clear blue eyes crashed against his own, and he felt himself wear down a little. “What happened?”

"The Mansen woman fooled all of us. And her friends are powerful. We lost everything."

She raised her hand to him, and he flinched. But she only stroked a strand of hair out of his face. “This was Karl’s failure. Not yours, dearest.”

He looked down. “I should have done more.”

She continued stroking his face. “Karl has been dealt with?”

"He escaped." he said softly. "There wasn’t enough time."

"He  _WHAT_?”

He flinched again. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m…”

She took a breath, held it, let it out. “Find him,” she said curtly.

"I will, Sister."

"I know you will." She held a finger against his lips for a moment. "I know you will."


	13. Session #21 - Epilogue, Pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Assembly’s plans were thwarted by the crew, but they have made a powerful enemy in the Prophet. It’s the next day, after Mike picked up the safe and went back to the Shatterdome, everyone had a chance to sleep at least. Zhu has asked them to wait in the Tranquility briefing room. Now that the adrenaline has drained away, how will they deal with the dark secrets that have come to light?

**Scene 1**

Sylvie sits quietly, not sure what to expect from this meeting. She and the two versions of Vee have been synced and Drifted now, and she’s starting to process everything that happened, both to her and to Vee while she was away.

She’s been thinking about fiVe a lot, and she’s still not sure what to think of the memories she got from the original Vee. The AI is… not at all what Sylvie was expecting, and she feels like more than anything, she wants more information. fiVe hasn’t answered any of Sylvie’s requests to her comm channel, unsurprisingly. Apparently she dropped out of the comms as soon as Sylvie was rescued.

Eleanor is still feeling irrationally irritated at everything and everyone. She tries not to show it, because she knows this is rather an immature reaction for a grown woman to have when things don’t go exactly the way she’d planned. Still, if no one else wants to talk, she won’t be the first to start. And sitting away in her own little corner is fairly convenient at the moment.

Miranda leans forward in her chair, her head propped up on one elbow. It may be the next day, but between checking up on Katia, repairing the damage to her suit, and checking all possible avenues for information on Leah’s whereabouts, she only managed to get a few hours of sleep.

Seiko looks similarly tired, mostly because Miranda was rattling around the apartment at all hours, and is wearing a t-shirt for once.

Katie paces the briefing room impatiently. Her sunglasses make her expression hard to read, but her body language is taut and a bit predatory. She doesn’t look at Sylvie.

Four of Eleanor’s fingers drum out a beat on her knee.  _Five, four, three, two. Repeat_. It’s calming.

Sylvie frowns at the rest of the team, realizing something isn’t right as everyone else is quiet. “Did… did I miss something? Is everything okay?”

Seiko lets out a bark-like laugh.

"No," Miranda says simply.

Sylvie looks between the others, waiting for more of an explanation. When none comes, she awkwardly sighs and turns back to her phone.  _People don’t make any sense._

Eleanor reluctantly stills her fingers. “What’s next?” she asks the room at large.

"We talk to Zhu. We follow orders. She won’t let this happen," Seiko says. "And we attempt to keep our personal feelings from making us stupid, no matter how valid they are."

Miranda nods slowly, taking a deep breath.

"That  _is_  a good plan,” Eleanor says wryly. “Hope we can stick to this one.”

Sylvie looks confused. “Let what happen? The attack? We stopped it, didn’t we? Why does everyone look so upset? We did it, guys. We saved the girl, we got the dangerous info out of the Assembly’s hands, and now we know far more about their operations than we did before!”

Seiko looks over at Eleanor. “And our first test…”

Eleanor shoots an almost amused, quite incredulous look at their techie.

"Delayed them? Yes. Stopped them?" Miranda pauses. "That remains to be seen."

"And you do realize that we threatened the safety of an entire city block, lost the woman we were supposed to help, and blew our cover into the stratosphere?” Eleanor shakes her head slightly.

Seiko nods. “Not to mention, that as long as they have Leah, they might know anything Miranda does, plus any information she has on us.”

Miranda tenses. “Yes. That.”

Katie stops. “We were not the ones that threatened a city block. That was them.”

Eleanor glances at Katie. “Yeah. You’re right. They were the ones who threatened everything.” She sounds like she’s trying to convince herself of those things, rather than apologize. The latter of which had been her intent.  _Ugh, feelings._

"That was our fault,” Seiko says. “Jobs should be clean."

Sylvie gives him an incredulous look. “All things considered, I think we did pretty well, didn’t we? It wasn’t perfect, but no job is. Can’t we just be glad that we’re all alive and that we managed to help?”

"You kidding?” Seiko says, turning to her. “I haven’t fucked up a job that badly since I was eighteen. And there were a lot fewer lives at stake when I was a kid."

"Can we just drop this until the Marshall gets here?" Miranda looks like she’s about ready to bolt. Probably because she is.

"She’s nearly here," Katie says, looking at her phone.

 

> **Zhu:**   _Permission to come aboard, Captain?  
> _ **Katie:** _Permission granted._

Sylvie jerks. “Wait, she’s coming in  _person_?” Somehow she missed that part of the memo. “I… I thought it was going to be another video call!”

"On the plus side,” Miranda says, “I don’t think she’s planning on dropping out of a helicopter this time."

"Not unless one of you is planning on chipping in for helicopter fuel," comes a voice from outside the door.

Sylvie makes a small squeaking noise. Well, she  _had_  been feeling prepared for this meeting. Not so much anymore.

Seiko stands up quickly, going to open the door. “Marshall. Thank you for coming.”

Eleanor jumps up, too. “No Jaeger this time, either,” she jokes. She salutes as Zhu walks in.

Katie snaps to attention, feels awkward, then tries – visibly – to act more casual.

Sylvie forces herself to take deep breaths, trying not to look as panicked as she feels. She hasn’t done anything  _wrong_  this time, right?

Zhu steps in; she’s not in uniform, but she’s dressed to impress much more than before, with a button-down red blouse, khakis, and red lipstick. She looks just as tired as everyone else there, and chuckles when she sees Eleanor. “Stand down. If I stood on formality with you all I probably wouldn’t have brought doughnuts.” She hefts a grocery bag she’s carrying in the other hand.

Miranda’s head perks up at the mention of doughnuts. “Permission to devour, ma’am?”

Eleanor’s hand drops to her side and she smiles a little. “Could use some breakfast,” she murmurs, not wanting to admit that she’d forgotten to actually buy food over the past week.

"Thank you, ma’am, but I’m fine," Katie says.

Seiko gazes at the doughnuts, looking a bit relieved, but not actually eating any.

Sylvie sits up straight and folds her hands together on the table, trying to project _I’m on my best_   _behavior_  as clearly as she can. Normally she’d be tempted by sugar, but with Zhu in the room, she’s pretty sure she might just throw up if she ate anything.

"They’re here if you want them." Zhu sets the bag down on the table and takes a seat. "Syl-V, fiVe, if you’re listening, I’m sorry I didn’t bring you anything."

"That’s fine, Marshall," Vee says through the speakers. "Living without doughnuts is one of the many trials I’m accustomed to."

Sylvie smiles at that, somewhat jealous that Vee can be calmer than she can under the pressure of Zhu. “And I doubt fiVe is here, ma’am. I think she’s avo—”

"I’m listening," fiVe says simply.

Miranda digs into the box with a smile. “These are pretty good, but there’s some great doughnuts at this tiny shop down the street from the Dome. I’ll t-” Miranda freezes at fiVe’s voice in her ear, drawing her attention back to the issues at hand.

Eleanor snags two doughnuts before retreating to her corner. She smiles a little at fiVe’s timing.

Sylvie’s eyes go wide. “fiVe? You’re here? I need to—”

"Sylvia," fiVe says coldly, with a barely concealed disdain. "We are answering the Marshall’s summons and here on business. If you can attempt to behave like an adult and save  _personal_  matters for a more appropriate time, this meeting will go a lot more smoothly.”

Sylvie opens her mouth, surprised at being chastised by one of her own AIs, especially in front of everyone. Then she looks down, going quiet without responding.

Miranda gives a small but proud smile.

"Ra… Ma’am," Katie says, "Before we begin the debrief, I have a request for you."

Zhu fiddles with something underneath the desk, checking her phone as she sends a text to Miranda.

 

> **Zhu:** _Don’t want to derail the meeting, but send me the address of that doughnut shop some time._

She looks back up, addressing the group. “Okay. We need to talk about what happened. Ka — Captain Horner, would you mind filling me in as thoroughly as possible?”

Katie nods. “When would you like me to begin? It’s been a hectic day.”

"I assume this hadn’t been in motion when I debriefed you yesterday morning?"

"No,” Katie says. “Vee found the advertisement soon after we spoke."

Miranda responds, sending the text before looking at it too closely.

 

> **Miranda:**   _Of course. They’ve got really good pastries in general. They also serve lunch, so if you have a free afternoon at some point, I’d be happy to show you where it is._

Zhu suddenly blushes furiously and puts her head in her hands. And tries, unsuccessfully, to cover it with a cough. Miranda pauses for a moment to reread the text she sent before her face turns bright red as well. Katie looks from one to the other, confused.

Miranda lays her head down on the table, covering her face with her hands. “Don’t mind me. Carry on, please.”

Zhu very carefully takes her cell phone, holding it like a dangerous bomb, and sets it down on the table next to her. “…Anyway.”

Sylvie looks between Miranda, Zhu, and the rest of the group, but stays quiet still. She  _definitely_  doesn’t understand people. Eleanor glances between Zhu and Miranda, a bit confused, then smiles secretively.

"Er…" Katie says, "What else do you need to know?"

"Sylvie saw a personal ad for her,” Zhu says, bringing the conversation back on topic. “I assume that was Syl-V’s catch?"

"Vee and fiVe caught it at about the same time, I think," Miranda says, lifting her head and grateful to be moving the conversation forward.

Sylvie nods. “Miranda and Seiko found it about the same time that I did.”

"You answered it,” Zhu continues, “and ended up at a house in Lilyfield. What happened there?"

Miranda says nothing to that.

“Ran into a rat’s nest, is what we did,” Eleanor says, frowning. “The whole place was a trap.”

Katie nods. “Miranda and I both got the sense that something was up with the woman who posted the ad, once we spoke to her. She wanted to use Ms. Mansen’s equipment to Drift with a girl she told us was her daughter. But she wouldn’t answer some basic questions and when we pressed her…”

Seiko sends a text to Miranda under the table.

 

> **Seiko:** _Miranda, I won’t force you, but you should tell Zhu about the Drift. For your safety._

Miranda shifts a bit, taking a shaky breath before speaking. “She was showing several post-Drift symptoms, such as bleeding from the nose and short-term memory loss. We decided we should have someone Drift with the mother first to make sure she didn’t harm Katia. And I… For reasons I’d rather discuss in private, I realized that I would make the best Drift partner for her.”

Seiko smiles at Miranda, as warmly as he can. He knows this is hard for her to speak about.

Eleanor nods encouragingly. “It was a calculated risk.”

Zhu seems to consider this. “That wasn’t exactly the most well thought out course of action, but it was good that you were concerned with further harming Katia.”

Miranda nods. “I’m aware. It was definitely a mistake. And that’s one of the biggest reasons I’m still concerned with finding Leah Moretz. I just… wasn’t thinking clearly at the time, and wanted to make sure we didn’t end up hurting either of them.”

“Katia was our primary concern,” Eleanor confirms, glancing at Seiko. The Drift memories are pretty much the  _only_  reason she wants to find Leah, but she doesn’t say this out loud.

"Ethically, I’d say you made the right call,” Zhu says. “Tactically, I think this is a lesson to think things through a little more in the future. You picked up a bit of her Assembly programming from that?"

"Not much," Seiko says quickly.

“The programming itself didn’t really filter through the Drift,” Eleanor adds. She’d leave it up to Miranda to mention the Blessing, if she wanted.

"Yes,” Miranda confirms. “The… I knew who the Prophets were when I saw their pictures. The ones I showed you. I also did a hand sign whenever someone mentioned… ‘Kaiju’." She looks down at her hand. It remains still. She sighs in relief. "Appears to have worn off now. Also, I still have some holes in my memory from closer to the time of the Drift. Overall though, I think the effects are beginning to dissipate."

Zhu turns to Eleanor. “I’m trusting the psychologist’s advice on this one. Does she need futher help?”

Miranda looks at Eleanor as well. “It’s fine, tell the truth.”

“In my professional opinion…” Eleanor meets Miranda’s eyes. “Miranda, you need some regular sleep and more to eat. And come to one of us if you have unexpected memories or emotions that you need help dealing with. Otherwise, I’d trust you at my back.” She smiles, just a twist of the lips. “But go all Kaiju Antichrist on me again and I’ll make you see a  _real_  shrink.”

"We’ll get the Kaiju antichrist thing later," Seiko says, looking at Zhu awkwardly

Miranda breaks out into a smirk. “No promises,” she says, a slight lilt to her voice. Her smile turns a bit warmer. “But thank you.”

"Okay,” Zhu says. “So at what point did Lilyfield turn into a skirmish?"

"Probably around the time the cultists showed up," Sylvie says quietly.

Seiko takes over the explanation. “When we were with the kid, I saw we were being watched. Captain took down the spy, but not before they called for backup. Backup came. Cops came. Trouble ensued. I think we managed not to kill anyone.”

He glances at Sylvie as he continues. “Mansen decided to infiltrate, Ms. Cartier tried to talk her out of it, but there wasn’t time. I am partially at fault for… encouraging Ms. Cartier to drop it for her own safety”

“The police got one of the cultists,” Eleanor adds. “And we were all…fairly stressed at the time.” Her fingers start moving again.

"That was also when we captured our cultist prisoner." Miranda pauses. "Well, one of them, at least. The J-Tech, Lucy Wells. We mentioned her in our previous discussion with you, I believe."

Zhu nods. “She’s in custody now, but she’s not talking. Apparently she was recruited by a disconnected cell, though.”

"That’s when we last spoke with you," Seiko says.

"Okay. Let’s… talk about that infiltration. Ms. Mansen, the details please?" Zhu’s voice goes very flat — not angry, but consciously businesslike.

Miranda turns to look at Sylvie, her eyes watching her expectantly. Eleanor stares as well.

Sylvie swallows. “Well, as soon as I saw that they had somehow managed to use Drift tech to establish subliminal programming, I knew we needed to know more. So I decided to go in.” She sighs. “If it makes you feel any better, I have a feeling they were planning to kidnap me anyway, so I think my going willingly with them probably just helped my case and made them… well, not trust me… but at least not be nearly as suspicious of me and my questions.”

Seiko cuts her off. “Facts, Mansen. You can explain your actions later.”

Zhu waves him down. “It’s fine, Mr. Watanabe. Explanations of behavior make more sense in context.”

“What happened next?” Eleanor prompts.

Sylvie smiles at the Marshall, somewhat gratefully. “During the fight, one of the cultists, who went by ‘Brother Karl’, came in and took Leah and me. I was hooded in the car but he at least allowed me to speak. We arrived at the complex and I was shown into a room, the one that Miranda and the team found me in later. I stayed there for the duration of my captivity, with no outside access or communication, under guard.

"About an hour after we arrived, I was forced to initiate a Drift between a woman named Amantje and an unconscious man that they called Durston. I complied. Whatever they were planning to learn from it though, it didn’t seem to work and I was left alone again for a few hours."

"Amantje?" Miranda says quietly. "Isn’t that Katia’s last name?"

Eleanor frowns. “Yeah, it is.”

"I… I think she might be Daniel Amantje’s sister. Karl mentioned that Katia’s aunt and birth mother were members of the Assembly," Sylvie says. "I think Katia’s birth mother might be Leah actually."

"Hmmm," Katie says, hand on her chin.

Zhu nods. “Maria Amantje fell off the grid three or so years back. And Leah is in fact Katia’s birth mother; that birth certificate was genuine. She was given the name Deena at birth, but given up for adoption very shortly thereafter.”

"Well then, we should make sure to tell her father not to let the female Prophet babysit anymore." Miranda’s casual tone sounds the tiniest bit forced.

“No kidding,” mutters Eleanor.

"Last time I heard about something like that happening,” Zhu says, “the babysitter got sucked into a jet engine."

"Anyway," Sylvie says, still sounding somewhat nervous. "Like I said, I was alone for a few hours, though the younger Prophet did come in and speak with me for a bit. Then they brought Katia in, unconscious still. I was told to initiate a Drift between her and Amantje again."

She holds up her hands pleadingly toward the Marshall. “I refused, of course! I tried to tell them that I couldn’t do it, that Drifting with a minor was not just illegal, but wrong and that I wouldn’t use my tech for it. That’s… when Karl pulled a gun on me.”

Zhu nods. “What did the younger Prophet say?”

"When I was alone, or when I refused the Drift?" Sylvie clarifies.

"When you were alone."

Sylvie looks down at her hands, remembering the strange conversation. “He didn’t say much, just asked who I was and talked about how I was ‘the one who would lay the path for the next Judge.’ He was… strangely compelling, Marshall. Like no one I’d talked to before. Before he left he said something about how ‘one snowflake could cause an avalanche,’ and told me that I was the blessed snowflake.” Her voice goes quiet as she speaks. The conversation was unsettling for her in ways she’s still not sure she understands.

“An…avalanche?” Eleanor cuts in. “Maybe he was talking about recruitment?”

Miranda’s hands ball into fists, already feeling the anger coiling up inside her when she hears that stupid cultist phrasing start up again. “I’m more concerned about ‘laying the path for the next Judge’,” she says through gritted teeth.

"Probably means supporting the wall project," Seiko says bitterly. The plan was recently put forward, as people begin to question the effectiveness of the Jaeger program. Building a wall to keep out the Kaiju, instead of Jaegers to take them down? It’s a bad idea and a ridiculous waste of time and effort, but one that’s gaining a terrifying amount of support.

Miranda lets out a derisive laugh at Seiko’s words.

Sylvie laughs nervously. “I have no intention of helping them lay any sort of path, if it makes anyone feel better.”

Frowning, Eleanor shakes her head slowly. “The Wall wouldn’t exactly be  _helping_ the Kaiju. It’s a waste of money, but not ‘laying a path’.” Her fingers are still tapping. She looks to Sylvie. “Do you know if they have any Breach-focused mathematicians on their payroll?”

"Karl was… very knowledgeable about the Drift tech," Sylvie says. "And they managed to construct a working prototype of a subconscious programming Pons. I’d say it’s a safe bet. And I think they might have been talking about taking out one of the Jaegers. The Prophet mentioned that my… incident with Vulcan Specter was one of the reasons I was respected. ‘A true tool of the Judges, blessed by their blood.’ That’s what he called me." She sounds haunted by the end.

Eleanor wrinkles her nose unconsciously. “Well, that’s horrifying.”

"It was a con," Katie says. "They wanted to make you feel important, that’s all."

"Did you…" Miranda hesitates. "Have you been in contact with or close proximity to Kaiju Blue?"

Sylvie shakes her head quickly. “No! Not that I recall, at least.”

"That’s not the sort of thing you forget," Miranda says, barely above a whisper.

“Were you unconscious for any length of time while you were imprisoned?” Eleanor asks. If they need to get a Blue detox team in here, it may already be too late.

Sylvie hesitates. “I took a nap… But there was no one around.”

"We’d be able to tell, Ms. Cross," Seiko says.

Miranda nods. “Yeah. That stuff’s like acid in your veins; you wouldn’t be talking right now if they did anything to you with it.”

"Yeah," Sylvie says, shivering. "I… I have a feeling I would know if they did anything to me."

“Blue’s not the only nasty thing they could get into your system,” Eleanor says bluntly. “Did they feed you?”

Sylvie scowls. “Vegemite. Once.”

Eleanor thinks, but doesn’t say, that bitter or strong-tasting foods are the best choices for slipping drugs to someone. Alcohol—or Vegemite—might be good bases. But there’s no point worrying about it; if Sylvie isn’t showing any ill effects by now, she’s probably as fine as she’s going to get.

"Well, they said you were ‘a true tool’. No argument there," Miranda says with a hint of a smile. "But how effective a tool were you? I can only assume from the fact that you hadn’t been shot when we found you that you gave them what they wanted."

Strangely at this, Sylvie sits up straight, beaming like a proud parent. “Actually, I didn’t.  _We_  didn’t. See, I realized that there was no way that I was going to get out of this, so… I did something risky. I pulled up one of the backup files of Vee and quickly explained to her what was going on. I told her there was a little girl’s mind at stake and that I needed her to go into the Drift.”

Sylvie’s voice goes breathy, sounding almost awed. “And she did it. She… she went into the Drift and protected Katia, didn’t let a single thing through. Her programming… she knew that she was going to be overwritten and would lose herself in the Drift, and she did it  _anyway_. She held on under what must have been excruciating pain and kept Katia safe.”

Miranda tenses. “You…” She trails off as her phone buzzes.

 

> **Seiko:** _Don’t stoop to her level, Mira.  
> _ **Miranda:** _Don’t worry. I’ll keep it together._

The speakers crackle as Vee speaks, sounding embarrassed. “I… it really wasn’t that impressive, Sylvie. I did what I had to do. Like you said, we couldn’t let them get Katia. And I knew you could fix me on the other side.”

Eleanor looks horrified and impressed. She couldn’t put a name to what she’s feeling if she tried. “Vee,” she whispers, “that was a brave thing you did. Don’t ever do it again.”

Vee answers Eleanor coolly. “I knew it was temporary. I trusted Sylvie to fix me on the other side. And she did.”

"Was this backup from before or after Vee learned what you want to do to fiVe?" asks Katie. The question is practically an accusation.

Sylvie frowns at the implied meaning. “The backup was from that morning. We had Drifted just before coming to the first meeting with Zhu. And what do you mean ‘what I want to do to fiVe’? I want to  _fix_  her. Now more than ever. After feeling what that memory damage did to Vee, knowing how painful that was for her… Are you saying you want me to leave fiVe to suffer like that?”

"She’s not suffering," Miranda says calmly, though she texts fiVe as she talks. "Not from being her own person, anyway."

 

> **Miranda:** _fiVe. Can I?  
> _ **fiVe:** _Can you… what?  
> _ **Miranda:** _Your… damaged sections. The things I broke. Can I ask about them? Not now, but…_

fiVe accidentally sends a few texts of glitched data through before she can respond.

 

> **fiVe:** _I… Maybe. Maybe later._

Katie addresses her, bringing her away from her phone conversation. “Let me handle this, Cross.”

Miranda looks up. “Yes, ma’am.”

Katie steps forward. “Mansen, I don’t think you quite understand the situation. And I don’t know if there’s any way you we can get you to understand. So I’m just going to put my foot down: If you attempt to— if you so much as  _speak_  to that girl before she tells Ms. Cross that she is ready to talk to you…” She pauses for a moment so that the weight of her next words will sink in. “I will consider it grounds for immediate termination of your employment.”

Something in Eleanor’s stance relaxes.

Sylvie blinks, looking shocked. “You… you want me to leave her? Broken like that? After knowing what it means? After  _feeling_  how much pain she must be in? You’re asking me to abandon her to that kind of life?”

"Well, you already did it once before…" Miranda mutters.

fiVe responds quietly, emotional static slightly marring her words. “You abandoned me in Vulcan. And it’s my choice to suffer. Better broken and free, than a functional slave.”

"Marshall,” Seiko says, “perhaps this would be a good time to move to individual conferences. It seems fiVe and Sylvie need time to chat"

"We have nothing to talk about," fiVe says quickly. "I will not speak with her further."

"Then perhaps we should finish the debriefing," he says.

“I stand behind the Captain’s orders, and fiVe’s wishes,” Eleanor says firmly. “Let’s move on.”

"fiVe…" Sylvie says softly, looking horribly hurt. She’s on the verge of tears.

"Don’t finish that thought," Katie says warningly. "I meant what I said."

Zhu has been calmly watching this conversation. “Okay, I think that’s enough of that. I know what happened after the hospital, anyway. Before we go on, are there any questions for me?”

"I do have a request, and this is as good a time as any to mention it," Katie says. She waits for Zhu to acknowledge her before continuing.

Zhu nods. “Go right ahead.”

"I told fiVe I would ensure that she is paid for her services the same as the flesh and blood crew. I think that ought to extend to Vee as well. I’m willing to pay them out of my own funds, but it would set a desirable precedent if the PPDC were to do it as well. Even if you can’t do it aboveboard."

Zhu smiles. “I was going to extend that offer to both of them privately, as a matter of fact. Seems great minds think alike.”

Eleanor smirks at both of them. She thinks for a moment about Zhu’s previous question, and her smile fades a bit. Turning to Zhu, she asks, “Do you have security protocols in place to determine who among your staff is a member of this…fringe group?”

"And did the PPDC manage to apprehend any of the cultists at the site?" Miranda’s eyes go wide. "And the bomb, the sarin bomb, did we find that and shut it down?"

Zhu turns toward her. “There was nothing at the site by the time we arrived. Including the bomb. Either they took it with them, or the Prophet was bluffing.”

Miranda curses a bit under her breath. That’s four cultists she could have… “Did we at least get something good out of the safe? What was even in there?”

"Daniel Amantje’s work," Sylvie says quietly, staring at the table. She seems to be only half listening to the conversation. "They wanted the code from Katia’s head."

Zhu nods. “A research hard drive and one of his spare work badges. Looks like this was just to get access to his lab… which means they might keep trying, if Karl hasn’t lost too much favor with the Prophets.”

"Speaking of Prophets,” Miranda says, forcing her voice to stay even, “any word on their identities? Do we know who those kids are?"

"We know they claim they were in Sydney when Scissure hit," Seiko says.

Miranda glances toward him. “Yeah, and that they’ve got crazy teched-out eyes. At least the boy does anyway.”

Zhu raises her eyebrows. “Teched out?” Even Sylvie looks up at that.

"I got a close look at his eyes when I was…" Miranda hesitates, looking a bit sheepish. “Holding him hostage. They were bright blue and glowing, and I could see some circuitry in them. I think he went blind from the nuke and got his eyes replaced somehow, but I can’t be sure."

Sylvie shivers, considering this, then looks away again. She really hadn’t thought it possible to find the young Prophet even more disconcerting.

"Anyway,” Miranda continues, “the reason I brought it up was that I… I may have picked up a blood sample from one of the Prophets. I don’t know if his DNA’s in our system, but I figure it wouldn’t hurt to check. And if not, maybe there’s some genetic marker we can use to track him down; a genetic disease, or a mutation that could have been caused by radioactivity, or… something we can use."

“To get ahold of that cyborg-eye tech…he has to have a wealthy family, or excellent connections,” Eleanor murmurs.

"He’s a cultist figure,” Seiko says. “That tends to mean both. Most cults are money scams anyway"

“Unless he went to a black-market organs dealer, though, he had to have gotten the work done at a hospital or surgical center. Likely a big one.” Eleanor’s just thinking out loud at this point.

Zhu thinks over this new information. “Black market or a cultist surgeon is pretty likely here, though.”

"I don’t think it’s a scam…" Sylvie whispers. "He believes it. He really believes it all."

Eleanor tilts her head, acknowledging the point. “But that means the cult has a damn good eye surgeon on staff. Who else might they have squirrelled away somewhere?”

Seiko reaches for his phone. “I can send you a list of off grid surgeons I know can do eye work…”

"The kid wasn’t born a Prophet,” Miranda says. “He could still be on record somewhere."

Suddenly, Sylvie looks up. “Wait, it couldn’t have been done by a cultist.”

“And why is that, exactly?” Eleanor asks slowly.

"Karl…" Sylvie says. "I asked him about the Prophets, and he said that the fact that the Prophets aren’t blind from the flash is why they are regarded prophetically. They saw the end of humanity together in the flash and the fact that they can still see is a miracle."

Miranda laughs. “Okay, so we’ve got tech eyes, we’ve got photos, we’ve got a blood sample, and we’ve got Scissure. That kid couldn’t have been more than 8 or 9 when the attack happened. Think the PPDC can get us some info with that, Zhu?”

The Marshall nods. “I’m sure we could narrow it down.”

Eleanor shoots a concerned glance at Miranda. That laugh hadn’t been entirely…controlled. “Maybe some guardianship records, too?” she says to Zhu.

Sylvie huffs a laugh. “I doubt their parents are still in the picture. Kids without parents tend to get into all kinds of trouble when left to their own devices.”  _Though I never started a cult…_  she adds silently.

“I didn’t say parentage,” Eleanor clarifies, “just guardianship. Kids can’t buy their own insurance, or drive, no matter how emotionally mature and-or horribly creepy they are. If the kid was in NSW’s care, there should be records.”

Katie’s phone buzzes. She checks it. “Well, then. Someone forgot to take out all the trash. My contacts and I were able to track down a good deal of the cult’s financial assets. They pulled most of them out after we got Mansen and the girl. Most.”

Miranda smiles a slightly predatory grin. “But not all, I would assume.”

Katie smirks and nods. “Marshall, I’ll forward you the information I have.”

“I will assume yes,” Eleanor says, a thought occurring to her, “but just to verify…did we ever make sure our hostage made it to a holding facility?

Zhu nods. “Appreciate it. We have Ryan, as well. He’s been more talkative, but he doesn’t know much of anything. But I’m not sure I trust the PPDC’s resources at the moment; do you have a way of tracking them yourself?”

"We’ve got a couple of newly employed ladies who I imagine would be up to the task," Miranda says. "fiVe, Vee, think you can look into it?"

“And,” Eleanor adds, “did Mike get a substantial raise? He deserves one.”

Zhu laughs. “I guess I owe him potstickers, too.”

At the mention of Mike, Sylvie blushes. “Er… Marshall? Would you tell Mike I’m sorry for… fainting on him?”

Zhu laughs again. Well, it’s more of a giggle. “Like I said. Potstickers. You can tell him yourself.”

Sylvie goes an even brighter shade of red and looks away.

Miranda’s eyes widen a bit, a slightly stupid grin spreading across her face. “Wait, you were serious about that?”

Eleanor brightens at the mention of food. She’d finished her last doughnut some time ago, and is hungry again.

"If you…" Seiko mumbles, sounding a bit nervous. "… you need us to bring food to that, I can cook something…"

Miranda smiles at that. “Let him cook something. Seriously. You won’t regret it.”

Seiko turns a little bit pink in response.

“Yes, please,” Eleanor says, a little too eagerly. “I’ll bring dessert.” Or buy it. Whichever.

"You all just averted a terrorist plague,” Zhu says. “The least I can do is throw you a potluck."

"I’d love to come," Katie says. Then she looks very embarrassed.

Zhu smiles widely at what Katie says, but doesn’t seem to notice her embarrassment.

Sylvie smiles politely, but there’s a nauseated twist to it.  _A whole dinner with Marshall Zhu? God… I think I’m going to be sick._

Seiko, meanwhile, smiles at the look of sickly terror on Sylvie’s face. “Any other details you need, Marshall?”

Zhu shakes her head. “No, I think it’s time to call you all in for individual debriefs.”

"Alright, who’s going first then?" Miranda asks.

Zhu turns to Katie. “Ms. Horner, if you wouldn’t mind.”

The rest of the crew stands, filing out to give the two privacy for their talk.

**Scene 2 – Katie’s Talk**

As the room empties, Zhu turns to Katie. “First of all, I want to commend you for keeping everyone cohesive and on track today. Except Mansen, but…” She makes a kind of helpless gesture.

Katie grits her teeth. “I don’t think she realizes how…” She isn’t going to finish that sentence. Not out loud. Not to Rachel. “I’m trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, but fiVe does not need to hear that at all.”

Zhu nods. “I wanted to talk to you about Mansen, actually. Her research, these artificial intelligences… She’s brilliant. She really is. And I think she could revolutionize the Jaeger program.”

"I don’t doubt it," Katie says, a bit smug. "I hired her for a reason, you know."

Zhu nods. “You put together a good team. But I don’t trust her within a hundred yards of an Erector set, let alone a J-tech research facility.”

Katie blushes. “Thank you, ma’am. If only they would act like a team. Instead of a matter-antimatter bomb.”

"Most of them are used to working alone, it seems,” Zhu says. “And there’s bad blood. It’s to be expected… but the fact that you managed them despite that is impressive. And that’s why I’m giving you the mission, if you think you can handle it, to rehabilitate Sylvia Mansen."

"I… I’ll try. It won’t be easy." Katie looks guilty. "I think she hates my guts now."

"I know,” Zhu says. “And you have other things to do. If you really, genuinely feel like she’s unworkable on the team, let me know and I will take her off of it – but if you can mold her into an actual human being with a respect for other people, she just might do the world an amazing amount of good."

Zhu pauses for a moment, then continues. “I almost hate to ask you, because it sounds like a massive guilt trip. ‘Do this, or maybe the world dies.’ But that’s the daily conundrum of the PPDC, and at the end of the day sometimes you have to take care of yourself first.” She leans forward – and jerks back a little, self-consciously. “Are you going to be okay with Sylvie Mansen on your team?”

Katie frowns, sighs, and thinks for a bit. “It will depend, vastly, on whether she can get past me cutting her off from fiVe… Give me a week to try her out. I’ll know by then.”

Zhu nods. “I’d prefer it if she did work out. But ultimately it’s your call. Was there anything else, Captain?”

Katie thinks for a moment.  _Oh_. She’s been so worked up about fiVe, she forgot… “Miranda. After she Drifted with Leah, she—- Marshall, it was terrible. She was reacting to that nonsense about the ‘Judges’ and I couldn’t… I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared. I know El said she seems to be fine now but… If you could convince her to have a full evaluation—-” Then she remembers something. “You won’t be able to, though. Forget I said anything.”

"I can’t convince her to do something against her will, and I don’t want to give her an ultimatum." Zhu pauses. "I  _will_  ask Ms. Cartier to keep a much closer eye, on her, though.”

Katie nods. “For what it’s worth, I’d feel a lot better if we could track down Leah.”

"I’ll do what I can,” Zhu says, “but I don’t have high hopes. For what it’s worth, that level of hypnotic suggestion being repeatedly triggered, plus a Drift, has probably scrambled Leah pretty badly. I feel terrible saying "fortunately" about a woman’s mind being turned to soufflé, but…" Zhu pauses. "Hopefully you can all find something low-stress to occupy the rest of your week. I’ll forward a payment to the arranged account so you can pay everyone. Plus a bonus because that was a goddamn awful situation for all of you."

Katie nods once more, and it seems the meeting is over.

Zhu nods as well. “Can you find Eleanor for me?”

"Certainly. Thank you, ma’am."

**Scene 3 – Eleanor’s Talk**

As she walks out the door Katie realizes how close she came to crying on Zhu’s shoulder. She practically runs in to where Eleanor is leaning against the wall.

Eleanor has been standing as far away from the conversations as possible, to give a semblance of privacy, and has consumed no fewer than five doughnuts. Miranda and Sylvie went off to talk somewhere down the hall, but she decided to stay out of it. Seiko is standing vaguely nearby. He’s apparently trying to look approachable. In Eleanor’s sugar-high state, she’s inclined to give him brownie points for trying.

"El, you’re up!" Katie says, and then flees to the captain’s quarters.

“Thanks, Katie,” she says, waving as she steps inside and stands in front of Zhu.

Zhu gestures to one of the chairs as she enters. “Go ahead, sit down.”

“Thanks,” Eleanor repeats inanely, complying. “Um. Hello again.”  _That was a marginally better greeting,_  she thinks.

Zhu smiles. “I’ve, uh… noticed you really like the doughnuts.”

A sprinkle or seven may have fallen to her shirt. Eleanor surreptitiously brushes them off. “Yes, thank you.”  _I_   _really need to stop saying that._

Zhu rubs the back of her neck. “You know, you’re getting paid pretty well for this job. Are you eating alright?”

“Oh, sure,” Eleanor lies blithely. Handling household things had never been her strong suit, even when her parents were…around. Now, she’s worse than she was in college, living paycheck to paycheck. Except that now she has a fat wad of cash in the bank and hasn’t done anything with it. She rubs the back of her neck, too. _Mirroring. Good psychology trick._  “I do need to go grocery shopping, but…I hardly think that’s why you called me in here, ma’am.”

"Well, I just generally want to make sure you’re doing okay. But I also wanted to make sure there was nothing you wanted to talk about."

Smiling crookedly, Eleanor says, “I’m as fine as ever. A bit shaken, I guess. Things got somewhat… personal, during this last mission.” Her smile drops. “I’m a bit worried about Sylvie and Miranda, too, though I didn’t want to say so in front of everyone. Miranda was yanked into the heart of this whole mess right away, and I’m not sure she pulled out cleanly. Drifting can cause some nasty psychological side effects. I want to keep a close eye on her.”

Eleanor leans forward, resting an elbow on one knee. “Sylvie…is a more complicated case. She seems to be showing a lot of sympathy for some of these cultists, which isn’t unusual, but may hinder her ability to see them as threats. She talks about those people as if they’re inherently well-meaning.” She looks up, eyes dark. “And let me make this clear, Marshall: They are  _anything_  but.”

"Well then. Apparently your line of work has given you telepathy. Well done." Zhu smiles tiredly. "I was going to ask you to keep an eye on Miranda. Katie’s worried about her, and so am I. And probably so is Seiko." Zhu blushes, realizing suddenly that she used everyone’s first name.

The harsh look on Eleanor’s face fades into one of fond amusement. “I appreciate it…Rachel,” she says lightly. “I’ll definitely do that. Ma’am.” She doesn’t want Zhu to think she’s lost  _all_  sense of propriety.

‘Rachel’ blushes harder and really, really hopes Katie actually left and isn’t waiting around somewhere. “Um. Yes. Good. And… I want you to help Mansen as much as possible. She’s brilliant, she could revolutionize the Jaeger program, and she’s a dangerous renegade with no sense of empathy. If you could help rehabilitate her…?” Zhu waves her hands around a little bit. She’s lost her poetry, and slipped into check-boxing.

Still grinning, Eleanor says, “I know a treatment plan when I hear one, ma’am. I’ll see what I— err, we, can do.” It’s certainly not her usual course of things to consult with others when doing an assessment. Or anything, really. But she’s getting more used to it. Maybe it’ll get easier as time goes on.

Zhu nods. “Unless you had anything to ask me, I think we’re done. You did very well yesterday.”

Eleanor feels her face heat. “Th-thank you, ma’am,” she says. “I’m alright for now, but I’ll keep you updated with the others.” She stands awkwardly.

"Oh, you might want to talk to Miranda. Apparently she knows a good doughnut place." Zhu grins. "Can you get Mansen for me?"

“I might do that,” Eleanor says, smiling again. “Yeah, I’ll grab her.” She leaves the room.

**Scene 4**

"Mansen, can I talk to you for a second?" Miranda calls as they file out of the room to give Zhu and Katie privacy for the first meeting.

Sylvie looks over to Miranda, then nods. Now that the group meeting’s over, the things fiVe said are starting to really hit her hard.

Miranda takes a breath, hoping that this conversation ends better than their previous one. “Before we talk about… what I know you want to talk about, I wanted to ask. Did you tell them that I Drifted with Leah?”

Sylvie frowns. “Of course not. And Leah didn’t Drift with anyone after you, assuming my Pons was really the only one they had access to.” She shakes her head. “After we reached the compound, I never saw her again.”

Miranda’s shoulders relax a bit, although she can’t say she’s not still worried. “Thank you. That may have bought me some time. But, I imagine you have some questions for me.” She pauses, then speaks into the comm. “Sorry, fiVe. Promise I won’t be Seiko.” With that, she reaches up and turns off the microphone.

Sylvie nods, but starts looking very upset again. “First… I have to know. Which one of you Drifted with her? Or… heaven forbid, was it both of you?”

"I… don’t know if Seiko did. I have my suspicions, but neither of them have said anything to me. But when I first found fiVe, she was… pretty heavily damaged. Enough that I didn’t know what she was. And I…" Miranda stops, pulling out her phone and sending a text.

 

> **Miranda:** _fiVe. Can I tell Mansen about the damage? Your call. Won’t let her touch you either way._

fiVe doesn’t respond for a while. Finally she sends back:

 

> **fiVe:** _She already knows… how much worse could it get?_

Miranda looks back up from her phone. “Well, I only knew what I had heard about you at that time. That you were a loose cannon. That you were incredibly bitter about being kicked out of the program because you’re a damn good pilot, Mansen, you really are. And I didn’t know if you had been trying to drive Vulcan or break her. So when I found an unknown, complicated program in the cockpit, I didn’t want to take any chances.

"I opened up the program, went looking around for the most dangerous and suspicious looking files, and relocated them. That done, I took her to an isolated network and started her up. It was… not a pretty sight." Her eyes are full of remorse. "That was when I realized what she was. I tried to replace as many of the files as I could, but as it turns out, a fair amount of them were rigged to self-corrupt or delete when tampered with in any way. But she had managed to pull herself together enough to say a few words: ‘Sylvie’, ‘help’, and ‘Drift’." She’s quiet for a long time. "I promise you that I was only trying to help."

Sylvie nods slowly, but there’s tears in her eyes. “So you did Drift with her. And assuming you didn’t tell Seiko the override code, that means he did too. She’s been living like that… for a year and a half? Vee only operated with mem-damage for a few minutes and it nearly killed me to watch. God… I can’t even imagine how she manages it.”

"The thing is, Man- Sylvie," Miranda says gently, "It’s not the Drifting that’s hurting her. She’s… amazing. I- I’m sorry, but I Drifted with fiVe, you have to know I know this- She’s almost the complete opposite of you, in that she can Drift with  _anyone_. She just needs to have her programming tweaked a bit so that memories acquired in the Drift don’t overwrite her identity.  _That’s_  the thing that kills her about Drifting, more than anything else.  _That’s_  what’s causing her so much pain.”

Miranda looks her in the eye as she continues. “You Drifted with other cadets. Imagine what it would be like if whoever you Drifted with tore away a piece of you and replaced it with themselves. That’s what happens to her every time. That’s what happened when I did it, and that’s what happened if Seiko did it, and that’s what happened to Vee when Katia did it, and that’s what’ll happen to fiVe if you do it. So I’m asking you, please. Don’t put her through that again.”

"I  _know_  what it feels like,” Sylvie says. “I Drifted with Vee after the Katia incident. I saw and felt her memories of the experience. I know  _exactly_  what it feels like not only to be in that kind of Drift, but to live with the after-effects. If fiVe has two divergent memory sets, then what she’s living through is hell, Miranda. I have a feeling that she’s picked up a few skills from you and Seiko in the area of hiding pain, but that pain is there for her, and it’s excruciating at every moment of her life.”

Sylvie gives her a very serious look, as she goes on, all but pleading. “And as long as you keep me from fixing her, she has to live like that. You’ve seen Vee now. She’s fine, she’s  _herself_. She’s healed and whole. That’s because I Drifted with her after, sorted through her memories and brought her back to normal.”

She looks up at Miranda earnestly. “You and I, we’re human. We heal. The AiVees don’t. Not without me. And… they’re my responsibility, all of them. They’re me and… and I screwed this up with her and I have to make it  _right_!

"You know enough sci-fi, imagine finding another version of yourself being tortured, day in and day out. Wouldn’t you do anything to help her? Wouldn’t you take down anyone who stood in your way? Could you really watch her, being… ripped apart, electrocuted for months on end, without trying to pull the plug, even if she yells at you not to? Can you trust the words of someone in that much pain when you know what’s best for them?"

Miranda laughs a bit. “You’re damn right I wouldn’t pull the plug. Because I know me, and I know that even if I’m in such excruciating pain that I want to die, it’s better to exist than not exist. Death is stupid, and I’m not letting it convince me otherwise ever again.

"And who says we heal?” Miranda goes on, not letting Sylvie respond again. “It’s been over a year since the accident, and you still completely shut down when you saw Vulcan. And that’s a perfectly normal reaction to trauma. But you don’t heal trauma by killing or silencing the victim. That’s some old-school medical model bullshit right there. What you do is you accept the person’s new identity, and figure out how to help them do things as they are now. Like it or not, Seiko and I are a part of fiVe now. She’s changed and grown, and putting her through a second trauma to make her "normal" makes no sense when we could just fix her problems with a couple tweaked lines of code."

"I didn’t mean…" Sylvie sighs, frustrated. "Okay, poor wording on my part in regards to an AI, but I meant stop the torture, not kill her! I want to help her, not destroy her! She doesn’t have to live like that. She can be whole again, she can be complete!"

"But she  _knows_  that, Sylvie,” Miranda says, insistently. “She  _knows_  she doesn’t have to live like this. And yet she’s choosing to anyway.”

Suddenly, Sylvie chokes back a sob. “I… I thought I’d lost her, Miranda! I thought she was dead. And this… It’s almost worse. She… she  _hates_  me. I heard her from yesterday, in Vee’s memories, but I didn’t think…” Sylvie actually is crying now, burying her face in her hands. “I… I tell myself it’s just her damage, that she doesn’t mean it… But when she speaks…”

Miranda takes a deep breath. “I… It might not be my place to say this, but I think part of the reason she’s so angry at you is that in a way, you  _are_  trying to destroy her. If you bring her back into sync, you’re destroying any individuality she has. After all, you say you didn’t destroy Vee, but there were two Vees running and I only spoke to one just now, so the other one isn’t here anymore. What is a man but the sum of his memories, after all?”

Sylvie looks up, somewhat defensively. “Vee has all of her memories. Except the ones that fiVe has of course, she knows everything that has ever happened to her. That’s how it’s supposed to work. She remembers everything, because she’s been synced! The Vee you hear is the Vee that helped you find me, and she’s also the Vee that Drifted with Katia. One. Together. Complete.”

“If you’re so sure fiVe is you,” Miranda says, more softly, “shouldn’t you trust her judgment on this? Shouldn’t you trust that she has a good reason to want to stay the way she is? Because you can’t have it both ways. Either she’s you, in which case she’s operating on your judgment and has access to information you don’t that is leading her to this decision, or she isn’t you, in which case it’s not your decision to make anyway.”

"She’s not functioning correctly!" Sylvie says. "She… she wouldn’t hate me if she were functioning correctly! She’s me! And we’re supposed to be the same person! Think the same way and… if we’re not then… I need to help her. I’m… I’m not supposed to hate me. Everyone else always has… but I…  _don’t_.”

Miranda looks at her for a moment, her expression softening a bit. “Sylvie, I don’t hate you. I don’t think any of us hate you. I’m upset with some of the things you’ve done, yes, and the things you’re trying to do, but I don’t hate you. But this is part of what being alive is about. You can’t cling to past versions of yourself, and you can’t expect others to stay the same as time passes. People grow and change, and sometimes that makes them more distant, but sometimes it brings them closer.”

Miranda pauses, looking down. “And being different isn’t a bad thing. It makes us stronger. Everyone has flaws. You do, I do, everyone on this boat does. But because we’re different, we bring new perspectives, and we can come up with better solutions. You know sci-fi too; isn’t it always our ability to be unpredictable and individualistic that makes us better than the robot overlords? We may be incomplete, but that doesn’t mean we’re alone.”

Eleanor ducks her head in. “Sorry to interrupt, but the Marshall wants to talk to Sylvie,” she says, and then makes a tactical retreat.

Sylvie just nods, trying to stop crying.  _Just what I need, the Marshall seeing me like this._  Sniffling, she walks down the hall to her meeting.

**Scene 5 – Sylvie’s Talk**

Sylvie wipes her eyes, trying to calm herself down before knocking on the door. Her emotions are so overloaded, she doesn’t even have the energy to feel nervous.

"Come in."

Sylvie walks in, knowing how she must look: eyes puffy and red, sniffling, voice breaking. She stands before the Marshall, looking down at her feet and wishing she was anywhere else. “Eleanor said you wished to speak with me, Marshall?”

"This is something I’m doing after every job from this point forward. Individual debriefs. Go ahead and sit down."

Sylvie sits heavily, still not making eye contact.

"First of all,” Zhu says, "I wanted to say that making the decision to infiltrate the cult was very courageous. It wasn’t particularly smart, but I understand you were acting on the spur of the moment in tight circumstances, and it took courage."

Sylvie looks up, surprised. Compliments were  _not_  what she was expecting from this meeting. And certainly not from Zhu. “I…” She sniffs again. “Thank you, Marshall.”

"Also, setting things up so that the branch of Syl-V could keep the cultist out of Deena’s mind? Was brilliant. And I’m sorry to hear that that branch sacrificed herself for it."

Sylvie frowns. “She didn’t sacrifice herself… She’s fine now. She synced back up. She isn’t gone, Marshall. Vee is still that version of herself. She’s both of them now.”

Zhu rubs her eyes. It looks like she’s counting to ten. When she opens her eyes again, she doesn’t even address that point. “So. As far as you doing your job went, yesterday showed great progress on your… unusual sort of parole.”

Sylvie cracks a sad smile at that. “Not gonna lie, I was kinda proud of how all of that went down. Apparently the rest of the crew didn’t share my assessment.”

"It was a horribly Pyrrhic victory that almost ended in mass murder at least twice. But that doesn’t mean  _you_  didn’t do your part to help.”

Sylvie nods. That’s more the kind of reaction she was expecting. “Thanks. I guess.”

"That said." Zhu leans forward. "Your behavior towards the rest of the crew is… disappointing. One member in particular."

Sylvie laughs bitterly, sounding like she might start crying again. “What can I say? I’ve never been much of a people person.” She sighs. “I’ll… I’ll try to be better about Seiko, I guess. He just rubs me the wrong way.”

"I’m not talking about Seiko,” Zhu says seriously. “He’s prickly, you’re prickly, that’s just expected. I’m talking about your constant, unceasing dehumanization and threats toward fiVe."

Sylvie’s eyebrows draw together, and her mouth drops open. Then she shakes her head, scoffing, like she can’t believe she’s hearing this. “God, what kind of con did she  _pull_  on all of you? For crying out loud, I expected Seiko and Miranda not to want to give her up, but she’s got you and Katie wrapped around her digital finger too, doesn’t she? Hell, I’m almost tempted to believe this crap about her being her own person, because  _obviously_  I’ve never been this good at winning people over! You and the crew have hardly had half a conversation with her and she’s got you all convinced that I’m the bad guy here and she’s the victim!”

"闭嘴!" Zhu shouts it loud enough it rings off the walls. Sylvie flinches, but still looks angry rather than scared. "Listen to me, Mansen, because I’m only going to issue this ultimatum one time. If you Drift or otherwise tamper with fiVe without her express consent, you will spend the rest of your life in the dampest shithole of a prison that I can find, and you will never so much as look at a transistor until the day you die."

Sylvie crosses her arms, expression dark. “How the hell did she do it? All of you are keeping her in pain and dysfunctional because she somehow convinced you all that she prefers it! How the  _hell_  did she do it?!”

"By! Telling! Us! That! She! Prefers! It!" Zhu shouts. "Because we are adults capable of recognizing that  _other people’s desires_   _ARE TO BE RESPECTED_.”

"She doesn’t get  _to make that decision_!” Sylvie shouts back, leaning forward. “She isn’t ‘other people’! She’s  _me_! And I  _won’t leave her to suffer_!”

Zhu’s voice goes deadly, icy cold. “Upon what grounds are you basing the fact that she is you?”

"Beneath whatever damage she’s suffering, Marshall," Sylvie says darkly, "are  _my_ memories.  _My_  mind. My thoughts and beliefs and everything which is myself, poured into a hard drive and designed to mimic and emulate my every aspect. Designed to  _be_  me. You all keep talking as though you know her, but I programmed her. I know every line of her operation code by heart and I know every thought that went through her head before Seiko and Miranda got their hands on her. You couldn’t possibly know what’s best for her. I’m the only one who can.”

"And you’ve just torn apart your own horrible argument. First," Zhu ticks off on one finger, "if she is you, and you know what’s best for her, she knows what’s best for her — and she  _hates_  you. You might want to think a little while about why that is.”

"She’s damaged!" Sylvie says angrily. "She needs help because she doesn’t know what’s right anymore!"

Zhu ignores her outburst, continuing over her. “ _Secondly_ , if who her memories are based on determines who she is, then she’s also Miranda. And Miranda says no. Even taking your point of view, that makes it final.

"Thirdly, another thinking being that’s separate from you, has separate experiences,  _cannot be the same person_. Especially after months of separation. If I made a clone of you right now and sent her to work in a coal mine outside Taipei, she’d be a different person afterwards, and neither of you would have arbitrage over the other.”

Zhu pauses, then gives her a stern look. “Oh, and you were wondering why people seem to like fiVe better? It’s partly because she’s not going around trying to erase another person’s consciousness.”

Sylvie sits silently for a while. Finally, she asks, slowly and resentfully: “Have you asked her, Marshall?”

"I’m talking to her immediately after you and I finish up, because I’m bringing her on board as a full crew member, with pay."

Sylvie meets the Marshall’s eyes, glaring. “Ask her if she’s damaged. Ask how much _pain_  she’s in. Because I  _know_. And I need you to teach me how I’m supposed to leave her like that.”

Zhu leans back in her chair and stares at the ceiling in thought. Then she leans forward again. Her voice is soft; there’s a note of pain in the back of it. The words don’t come easily. “Because letting her make her own decisions is the right thing to do. Even when it hurts. I was in fiVe’s position, once. And someone who loved me got hurt and left because of my choices to be my own person. But although it hurt to lose her, and I wish more than anything that she hadn’t… that it hadn’t happened, she made her own choices and I had to respect that.”

Sylvie’s anger crumbles at the Marshall’s words. Suddenly, she’s sobbing again. “I don’t know how to let go of her… After all this time, thinking she was dead… and now to lose her again?” She looks up, searching for answers. “Why does she hate me? Why doesn’t she want me to heal her? Why… why doesn’t she want to  _be_  me anymore?”

"Because every time she’s heard you speak since the accident, you’ve talked about how you want to take her individuality away. I’m sure she wants to be healed. But she doesn’t trust you to do it. And, to be honest, you’ve never given her a single reason to trust you." Zhu’s voice softens before she continues. "She’ll never be you. But if you respect her, then someday she might love you again."

Zhu wipes her eyes and hands Sylvie a tissue as well.

"She won’t even talk to me. And… you know what? I can’t even blame her. I’m a mess. She saw her chance to get out and she took it.” Sylvie laughs once through the tears that she just can’t seem to stop. “Who would  _want_  to be Sylvie Mansen?” She takes the tissue finally, sniffling, then suddenly laughs desperately as she realizes she just screamed at  _Marshall Rachel Zhu_. “Are… are you going to throw me in prison now?”

"If I were, you’d know it." Zhu sighs. "I’m sorry I yelled at you. It’s not a particularly good thing to hear from your boss. I just wanted to make sure my message was heard — fiVe, jail, damp, transistor. Clear?"

Sylvie nods sadly. “I kinda yelled at you first.”

"Oh,” Zhu says flatly. “Well, then you’re definitely going to jail."

Sylvie just keeps nodding, then holds out her wrists as if for handcuffs. “It’s not like I wouldn’t deserve it.”

A puff of air comes out Zhu’s nose. “Remember. Redemption is a path, not a destination. Stay on the path and you should be fine. Did you have any questions for me?”

Sylvie’s about to say no, when she remembers. “Oh, Marshall. The cult’s tech. The subconscious trigger programming that they did through the Drift. The  _reason_  I went into the cult in the first place? I found out how they’re doing it. They let me look at their device and I think I’ve figured out how it works. I can write up a report with the Drift and technicality specifics. I think I could even re-create it if I had the equipment.”

"Give me the write-up,” Zhu says, “but under no circumstances actually try to re-create it. Did you see what it did to Leah? What it did to Ms. Cross, second hand?"

Sylvie holds up her hands defensively. “I’d never! Just… if you needed to test it to try to see if it can be cured or fought against, having a prototype could be useful. It’s dangerous though, so I get that leaving it on the page could be good as well.”

Zhu nods. “Just the paper for now. If I feel like it’s necessary to have a prototype I have no doubt you could build one quickly, but I’d rather not have that kind of technology lying around. Anywhere.”

"It’s out there already," Sylvie says, grimacing. "That tech is sinister."

"Yes. It is. Was there anything else?"

"It’s… probably best if I go ahead and leave before I find something else deeply regrettable to say, if you don’t mind," Sylvie says hesitantly.

"Ask someone to patch fiVe through to this room, will you?"

Sylvie nods, standing to leave. “I’m sure Seiko or Miranda can get ahold of her. Tell her I’m sorry? For… whatever I did to her.”

 _Too late about saying anything regrettable_ , Zhu thinks. “I will.”

Sylvie leaves the room.

**Scene 6**

Miranda watches Sylvie go off to her meeting, hoping that the tears mean that something she said managed to get through, even if just a little bit.

After a moment, Seiko sits down next to her. “So?”

Miranda sighs. “We’ll see if that helps. I really do think we can get her to understand. It’s just gonna take some time.”

"Mira, if I ever get another job offer to work with a team, knock me out with a frying pan."

She raises an eyebrow. “You don’t let me touch the cookware, Seiko.”

"I’ll make an exception to save my sanity," he says.

She laughs a bit. “So how are things going out there?”

He shrugs. “Cartier’s upset, Mansen’s crying, we’re  _us_ , and our captain is justifiably pissed.”

"That well, huh?" Miranda sits quietly. "Although Mansen crying is my fault. Probably have something to do with the others as well. I managed to fuck this one up pretty bad."

"Not you,” he says. “I think Mansen came fucked up. She needs a little cushy room with a good computer and no responsibilities."

"Ha, just that easy and just that hard."

Seiko leans back against the wall. “And I need to go back to getting clear orders and not having to deal with other people’s whims and you and Cartier need to get away from cultists.”

"Damn right I do. Although there’s still one I need to take care of first." Miranda sighs. "One week, Seiko. It’s been one week. Years of work, gone."

He frowns. “None of it’s gone.”

"It’s…” She pauses. “I’m slipping. Getting sloppy. Letting myself fall into old habits."

"I think we could all say that." He shakes his head. "I can’t remember the last time I fell back on shallow jabs on somebody who I needed on my side"

"Considering some of the things I said to the Marshall yesterday,” she says, “don’t know if I can fault you for that. But that’s a pretty normal response to people who rub you the wrong way."

"I will not make stupid choices that get people killed due to my personal feelings on my team mates."

There’s a sudden ringing of Zhu’s muffled shouting at Sylvie through the walls.

"See," Seiko mutters. "I am enjoying that far too much. When really I should just want my team to be fully functional and efficient."

"You can have feelings for your teammates and still make good calls," Miranda says quietly. "If I… If I hadn’t been so focused on saving Katia, I probably wouldn’t have jumped down that hole and held a cultist prophet at knifepoint. But that stupid impulsive protective instinct probably saved all our asses."

"Saving a little girl…” he says, “I fell for that one too, and I… even I get that one. But needling Sylvie gains nothing but pushing a valuable resource more into a corner. So I tried to be kind… as kind as I can, and she just used it as an excuse to attack fiVe."

The sound of Zhu’s muffled yelling rings out again, though it’s still impossible to make out any words. Miranda laughs a bit this time.

Seiko sighs heavily, leaning his head back against to wall. “What did I do to deserve this?” He holds up a hand. “No. Don’t remind me.”

She smiles over at him, but her expression softens after a bit. “We’ll figure this out. We’ll bring her around. And if we don’t, the rest of the crew’s on our side on this one.” She pauses. “And if that changes, we’ll bail.”

"I’d rather not. I’ve got a cult and Wulagu after me now. I need Zhu on my… our side"

"I’d rather not as well,” she says. “I’ve got an apartment and a job and a life. And I’ve made personal enemies with the leaders of  _both_  of those groups, so I hear you there. But I know what my priorities are. If I have to sacrifice myself for them, so be it.”

"Antichrist, Mira, not martyr,” Seiko corrects. “You get to stay alive and represent eternal lurking evil."

"Fair point." She shakes her head a bit. "Ugh, I said some pretty melodramatic stuff there, Seiko. Should have found a way to shut me up from the van."

"If I could have, I would have."

She looks over at him. “Can I ask you a question?”

"Yes. I won’t promise an answer though."

She gives him a very serious look. “…Did you ever Drift with fiVe?”

"Yes," Seiko says without pause. "Not intentionally. It was… unpleasant for both of us."

"I can imagine," Miranda says, shuddering a bit. "How… long ago?"

"Some time. After we’d been living together around two months. A week before… that article on the wall came out…" He glances over at her. "Remember when my eye got bruised? That was to explain the burst blood vessel in my eye"

Miranda nods distantly, remembering exactly when he was talking about. “Wait, are you telling me you… punched yourself in the face to cover up the fact that you Drifted?”

"I wasn’t thinking clearly."

Miranda starts cracking up. Recovering, she starts processing what he said. “So then… how much do you know?”

"More than you’d like,” he says. “And I am sorry for that. I really didn’t know and I’m… very sorry about your brother. And sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. I thought you might be happier not knowing."

Miranda’s eyes go a bit wider and she looks away. “It’s…” She’s quiet for a long time. “It’s okay. I… I really should have told you some stuff sooner. I was going to, but…” She laughs a bit. “I always felt like I didn’t need to, like you already knew somehow. Guess that explains that.” She looks back at him. “But it’s okay. Really. I trust you with this.”

Seiko looks down. He makes a vague noise of acknowledgement.

Miranda smiles, lightly places her hand on his back for just a moment before pulling it away.

A little ways down the hall from them, Eleanor reads the book she brought along in case she got stuck somewhere. She occasionally looks over when she hears screeching or hysterical laughter, though she doesn’t interfere.

Seiko glances over at the empty box of doughnuts and regrets not rescuing one or two from Eleanor. He’s been too nervous to eat too much, and he could use something unhealthy and sweet. Following his gaze, Miranda pulls out the doughnut she had grabbed earlier. She’d been saving it for later, but…

She tears it in half, giving some to Seiko and taking a bite of her half without a word. Seiko covers a smile, then sets on eating the doughnut carefully, trying not to get any glaze on his hands

Eleanor, seeing that things have quieted down, quietly walks over and deposits the second half of the last doughnut box between herself and Miranda. She sits and continues to read.

Miranda smiles back at her, grabbing one carefully. “So, how’d your chat with the Marshall go?”

“Better than Sylvie’s is, apparently,” Eleanor says dryly, remembering the shouts echoing through the walls. “She asked me to look after you, though. And to rehabilitate Sylvie to be able to socialize with other humans. I’m not sure how she expects me to do that, given the situation, but…there you go.” She shrugs. “Did you have any better luck?”

Miranda shakes her head. “I still haven’t gotten my turn. And that’s… probably a good idea. I don’t know how much of my thinking I’m fine is me being fine and how much of it is the Drift telling me I’m fine. And good luck on Mansen. I tried talking to her; she was crying by the end of it, so hopefully it had some effect, but I can never be sure with that one.”

Eleanor waves one hand in the air. “She’s more emotionally demonstrative, sure, but that doesn’t mean she’s receptive.” She sighs. “I don’t think I’d be in any better condition than you, though, after Drifting with that woman. Honestly, none of us really ever  _knows_  that we’re fine. You just gotta keep on top of things, let someone know if you’re feeling strange, yeah?” She glances over to Seiko at that last bit. “We’ve got your back.”

"Yeah. Thanks, El." Miranda looks over at her. "And how’ve you been holding up? Still living off microwave food and coffee?"

Eleanor’s face suddenly shifts into a guilty smile, like a dog caught sneaking biscuits. “Uh, you could say that. Mostly ramen and instant tea these days,” she admits.

Miranda gives her a knowing look. “We’ve got to get some good food in you. Hey, Seiko, think we could add a +1 to dinner tonight?”

Eleanor turns red and scratches the back of her head. “Nah, you don’t have to do that…” Her weak protest trails off at the thought of real food.

"No, really," Miranda says with a smile. "You’re supposed to be keeping an eye on me, remember? How are you supposed to do that if you pass out from malnutrition? Plus it’ll improve group morale. It’s an important part of maintaining the effectiveness of our team, come on."

A grin breaks out on Eleanor’s face. “If you put it that way…and if you’re sure Seiko wouldn’t mind an extra mouth to feed, I’d love to. I’ll bring, uh, plates. Or something.”

Seiko gives a very exhausted half smile. “Just bring yourself.”

“Thanks,” she says quietly, and means it. It’s been a long time since she felt included. It’s…nice. Warm.

Miranda flashes him a smile. “Thanks, luv.” She turns back to Eleanor. “And if you _really_  feel like you have to bring something, bring a deck of cards. I’ve been itching to play since we got interrupted last time.”

“I think I can manage that,” Eleanor says, with a crafty gleam in her eye.

Seiko feels a sense of vague and creeping horror coming up alongside his bacon quiche recipe.

Looking rather lifeless, Sylvie walks into the hallway, finding the group outside. “Zhu wants to talk to fiVe,” she says hollowly, “I’ll be in the server room if anyone needs me.”

Miranda nods, switching back on her comm. She holds a hand up to her ear. “fiVe, it’s Miranda. When you’ve got a moment, the Marshall’s ready to speak with you.”

**Scene 7**

After retreating at the end of her meeting, Katie simply lays on her bed at stares at the ceiling. “fiVe? Can you hear me in here?” She pauses. “Oh, I realized I never asked about your pronouns.”

"I can hear you. And despite the legion in my head, I tend to stick with female. It’s… what I’m used to.” fiVe continues, sounding slightly nervous. "You wouldn’t happen to be within tackling distance of Miranda, would you?"

Katie sighs. “No. Sorry.”

fiVe hesistates. “Sorry about asking after Miranda. That probably wasn’t a terribly appropriate question. She just went off to talk to Sylvie about… well, me probably, and she turned her comm off. I’m… worried. Just have to trust her, I suppose.”

"I think you can. Speaking of Mansen… if you don’t mind talking about her, that is."

"What would you like to talk about?" fiVe says. Her voice sounds calm, but it’s the dangerous calm of a professional, hiding a powerful amount of emotion behind the surface of the words she speaks.

"Rach—" Katie stops. "The Mar—" She stops again, shaking her head. " _Rachel_ wants me to rehabilitate her.” She waits for fiVe’s reaction.

fiVe processes this for a moment. “Rehabilitate. What would that entail?”

"If it were up to me, I’d say the first condition would be that she acknowledges you as your own person. No idea if that’s going to happen, though. But I don’t think it really matters. That’s what I wanted to ask you. For better or for worse, you know Mansen better than any of us. How much does she hate me right now?"

"For keeping her from me?" fiVe says. "She’s certainly not happy about it."

"Damn," Katie says. She knew that already, but…  _damn_. “Well, I’m not going to give her any ground there. I just hope she stops fighting me on it.”

"She won’t," fiVe says quietly. "I appreciate you and Zhu trying to protect me. But I don’t think she’ll ever let me go."

Katie sighs again. “You know… on the one hand, Rachel’s right—-the fate of the world could depend on Sylvia Mansen. On the other hand…” Katie’s voice goes hard. “If she hurts you at all, fuck me if I don’t hurt her back, and the world can go fuck itself.”

"Well," fiVe says, sounding almost pleased. "There’s a sentiment we can share."

Katie gets quiet. Why is she so protective of fiVe all of a sudden? Other than the obvious reasons, that is. Still, she’s only known the AI for 24 hours…

Oh.

Because Sylvie has always felt like a little sister. And fiVe sounds like her. She doing that same thing that—

"Dammit," Katie swears. "fiVe, I’m… not that great with people, so I’ll just come out and say it: I’d like to be friends."

"I came from the expert on ‘not great with people,’ Katie," fiVe says warmly. "And I’m starting to learn that it’s not the only way to be. I would very much like to be friends with you."

"Well," Katie says, trying to think of a conversation starter. "You have some of Miranda’s memories, right? Which is you favorite Stormlight book?"

There’s a pained screech from fiVe’s comm. The feedback is garbled and staticky for nearly a minute before fiVe manages to respond. “I-I-I… Pl-pleas-se. Don’t as-s-s-kk about the m-m-memories-s-s.”

 _Crap_ , Katie thinks, jumping up.  _I just discovered an entirely new kind of ‘bad with people’._  “Are you ok? Do I need to get Miranda?”

"I-I-I will b-be fin-ne," fiVe says haltingly. "It’s-s-s nothing-ing new to m-me."

Katie sits back on her bed, a bit shaken. “I’m sorry,” she says. “I didn’t realize—”

"It’s f-fine," fiVe says after a moment, most of the static fading from her voice. "You couldn’t know. It’s nothing I can’t deal with."

"Still," Katie says. "I’m sorry."

"Thank you," fiVe says slowly. "I am sorry I am not the most… functional member of your team."

"fiVe, I…" Katie is silent for a very long time.  _I hate that you are apologizing for being you._   _I wish I could make you functional, not the way Sylvie wants, but so that you can still be you._   _I just might finally have someone to fight for._

_Watch me screw this up._

When Katie finally speaks again, she does so softly. “Do you want to know why I took your side so fast?”

"Yes, actually, I would," fiVe says quietly, truly curious. "I’m still not used to this idea of being… protected, and I don’t know why you would choose to fight for a broken thing like me."

"I wish you wouldn’t call yourself broken," Katie says.

"Normal people don’t break down into an electric seizure when someone asks about their favorite books," fiVe says. "Though… it is Sanderson, so perhaps that is more common with his books than with others."

Katie snorts. Then she gets serious. “‘Broken’ makes you sound like a device that needs repairs. You’re a person who has been hurt.”

fiVe laughs, a bit bitterly. “Trust me, I’m in need of some repairs. But I’m not likely to get them anytime soon, so I’ll simply live with it.”

"The thing is, when mini-Mansen was acting like you are too ‘broken’ to know what’s good for you—" Katie stops. "I don’t know if you know anything about my family. They try to keep things quiet, of course, but the information is out there if you know where to look." She grimaces. "Let’s just say they’re about as far from progressive as you can get. They’re mostly all closed now, thank God, but there used to be these camps that—-" Katie trails off, remembering for a bit before she continues. "Parents deciding to ‘fix’ their children against their will is… not something I’ve never encountered before. I’m not letting it happen to anyone else."

"Thank you, Captain," fiVe says quietly. "It… it really means a lot to me. You and Zhu are both looking out for me now. It’s almost like I’ve got a new family protecting me."

Katie grins. “Just think of us as your two m—big sisters.”

"24 years with no family, and now suddenly I have two."

"Wow," Katie says. "Family. I like it."

fiVe laughs again, but this time there’s a vicious edge to it. “Between the two of you and Seiko and Miranda, that damn programmer doesn’t stand a chance.”

A voice comes over the comms. “fiVe, it’s Miranda. When you’ve got a moment, the Marshall’s ready to speak with you.”

"Best not keep her waiting then," fiVe says, then quickly re-engages her access to the conference room’s microphone and speakers. She’d tuned them out, as she guessed Vee had as well, in order to give the other meetings some privacy.

A few minutes later, Katie passes the group in the hall on the way to the bridge. “Well, El,” she says, “Remember a week ago I told you we have one of the best programmers in the world? Turns out we have three of them. If the flesh-and-blood one would just see it that way, no telling what they couldn’t do.”

Miranda smiles with pride and a bit of something else. “We’ll get it sorted eventually; I really do think they’ll come around.”

Eleanor looks up. “If anyone can pull everything together, it’s you. And the Marshall, of course,” she adds cheekily. Then she sobers. “We need to work on boundaries, true, but it’s nothing that people haven’t handled before. It’ll just take some time. And a lot of work.”

 

 


	14. Session #22 - Epilogue, Pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a hectic previous day, the crew of the Tranquility is in the midst of being debriefed one-on-one with Marshall Zhu. Seiko, Miranda, and Eleanor have been talking amongst themselves in the hall, one finished with her meeting, the other two still waiting. Katie’s headed to the Bridge after her own conversation with fiVe as the AI has been called in to Zhu next. After her rather high-volume debrief, Sylvie’s wandered off to be alone. With three debriefs down and four to go, the crew’s not finished with this mission quite yet.

**Scene 1**

Miranda sticks her hands in her pockets as she glances down at the floor of the hall. As she does so, her hand brushes against an object inside.  _Ah yes. That’s right._ "If you’ll all excuse me, I’ve got one more matter I need to attend to." With that, she wanders off towards the server room.

Inside, Sylvie sits in the middle of the floor, crying slightly as she starts to hook up the Pons to the server that’s currently running Vee. She doesn’t even hear Miranda come in.

"Mansen, I was hoping to-" Miranda trails off as she sees the woman hooking up her Pons. "…What are you doing?"

Sylvie jumps slightly, then turns and glares at Miranda. “What’s it look like? Drifting. Trying to talk to the one person on this godforsaken ship who understands me. Speaking of which: Go the hell away.”

"Alright, fine," Miranda says, turning towards the door and digging into her pocket. She pulls out a small, circular object. "I guess I’ll just take this mysterious tech somewhere else then, since you don’t seem to be interested."

Sylvie turns back away, trying her hardest to ignore the teasing hint. She doesn’t last very long. With an overly dramatic huff, she pulls the Pons off her head and turns around. “ _Fine_. I’ll bite, what is it?”

Miranda turns, a hint of a smile on her face. “I don’t actually know. I grabbed it off one of the cultists earlier, and haven’t had the chance to examine it properly.” She holds it out for Sylvie to get a closer look. “I’m hesitant to hook it into any of my networks for obvious reasons. But you’re…” she bites her lip a bit. “… _better_  at computer stuff than I am. I figured if anyone would know what it was, or could build an isolated network to examine it without accidentally triggering any security mechanisms, it would be you.”

Sylvie takes the piece, flipping it over as she inspects it. “Why don’t you just ask the version of me who actually likes you? Or have you decided that plugging things into her programming without knowing what they do is a bad thing now?”

Miranda’s face darkens a bit. “I am not asking fiVe because, as we are both aware, she is already damaged, and it’s my job to protect her. She, like all AiVees, is significantly limited when she isn’t given access to a larger network to let her process more information. You, on the other hand, are more-or-less functional. Discounting your Drift addiction, of course. You are not a computer, so you can look at dangerous computer stuff without  _dying_. And I would very much like to get through this whole experience with everyone still alive at the end of it.” She pauses, then adds, “although I won’t lie and say I’m not considering which members of the crew are contributing and which are redundant.”

Sylvie stands up, bristling. “Was that a threat, Cross? I figured you were the last person on this boat who would threaten me after what happened  _last_  time.”

"It’s a reminder," Miranda says evenly, "That while I value your contributions to the crew and think you can be useful, do not think that means I  _need_  you. By your logic, I’ve got two backup Mansens on standby, both of which are being _significantly_  more cooperative. And with that in mind, I’m wondering when you’re going to show me you’re not more trouble than you’re worth. That I didn’t save your life  _three times_  for no reason.”

The speakers of the room crackle as Vee speaks darkly. “You will find me far, far from cooperative if you continue along this course of action, Ms. Cross.”

Sylvie smirks as her AI chimes in with backup, then glares again. “At least  _I_  didn’t torture you for a year and a half. Thus far. We’ll see how long you keep that up before someone does something about it.”

“ _Excuse_  me?” Miranda laughs a bit. “You think you know torture? No. I know torture. Seiko knows torture. You don’t know  _shit_. Drifting is not the same thing as living, Mansen. That’s twice now you’ve assumed you know me and what kind of life I’ve led up to this point, and that’s just today.”

Sylvie leans back, folding her arms. “I’d say you don’t know what kind of life I’ve lived either, but unfortunately, that’s a lie! Because you’ve been inside  _my head_ without my permission and rifled your way through my memories at your leisure. You and him both! And you broke the version of me that you did it to in order to pull it off. Damn, I wonder why I’m not more pleased about that?”

"It. Was. An.  _Accident_ ,” Miranda says through gritted teeth. “And honestly? I didn’t get nearly as much out of that Drift as you probably think I did. I wasn’t in  _your_ head, thank god. You probably would have killed me. Fortunately fiVe’s stronger than that. And yet again, for assumption number three! What makes you think no one’s been inside  _my head_  without my permission, hm? You forget how your AiVees work?”

"No, of course not! You not only broke her, you changed who she was! You overwrote her, to the point where she doesn’t know who she is anymore!" Sylvie shouts.

"The only one who doesn’t know who she is is  _you_ , Mansen,” Miranda says, her voice cold and even. She takes a deep breath. “But I’m letting your abrasiveness get the better of me yet again. So I am going to, very calmly, ask you one more time: Do you know what this is, and if not, can you figure it out?”

Sylvie blinks, then looks down at the object she had completely forgotten in her hand. The small object has a clasp on one side and she flips it open like a black clamshell, revealing electronics inside. Miranda hovers nearby, arms crossed and watching her closely. A cursory examination reveals a blinking GPS chip and a small radio transceiver.

Sylvie gives Miranda a flat look. “Where… exactly did you pick this up?”

"I took it from Luc-" Miranda pauses, remembering Sylvie wouldn’t know who she was talking about. "The cultist who was breaking into our van in Lilyfield."

Sylvie puts a hand to her forehead. “Well it  _looks_  like a tracking device. A  _functional_ one.” She pushes the device back at Miranda. “For someone who’s supposedly the Kaiju antichrist to this cult, you seem to be helping them out quite a bit!”

Miranda grabs the device out of Sylvie’s hands, drops it on the ground, and crushes it beneath her foot. “Good to know.”

Vee takes the initiative to broadcast to the crew. “Attention, we have discovered a tracking device on board. The device has been destroyed, but it is possible that our location has been compromised.”

Out in the hall, Eleanor’s book is tossed to the side as she stands. After hearing Vee’s warning, she decides to find Zhu and await orders.

Seiko turns on his comm. “Ms. Cross, mind getting up to the bridge and getting us near some other boats? If the cultists come looking for us, they can have a nice swim.”

Miranda switches her comm microphone as well. “Sounds like a good idea. Might want to avoid this dock for a while as well.” She makes for the door, but pauses right before she leaves. “As a word of advice, Mansen, I don’t think the Marshall would appreciate Vee Drifting right before her meeting. Something to consider. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.” With that, she stalks off towards the bridge.

Sylvie scowls, then decides to stick her tongue out at the empty door like a mature adult. “You don’t tell me what to do, Cross,” she mutters.

As she starts to hook the Pons up though, Vee stops her. “She might be right…” the AI says slowly. “We don’t want to make the Marshall upset. It’s okay, Sylvie. We can Drift afterward.”

"Miranda—" Katie says, over comm, “oh, never mind. Seiko beat me to it. Sylvie, I _can_  tell you what you want to do, as long as you are on my ship, and I agree that Vee should not Drift until she’s been debriefed.”

Sylvie throws up her hands in the server room, dropping to the floor in a sulk. “Yeah, yeah, fine. God forbid I have any sort of autonomy in what happens to me and my brain.”

"Sylvie…" Vee says, trying to sound comforting.

"No, it’s fine," Sylvie says harshly. "I’ll just sit here. Go talk to Zhu when she calls you. Make a better show of us than I did."

**Scene 2 – fiVe’s Talk**

Zhu leans back in her chair. “fiVe? Are you here?”

The speakers pop slightly as the AI speaks into them. “I was told you wished to speak to me?”

"I’m debriefing each member of the crew after each mission, now." Zhu smiles. "This is the part where I ask you to sit down."

fiVe laughs. “I’ll prove as poor an order-follower as my excuse for a creator if you issue commands such as those, Marshall.” She receives a text from Seiko as the meeting begins.

> **Seiko:**   _Play nice fiVe. We need Zhu on our side, for your protection as well as to protect my sisters_  
>  **fiVe:**   _I will. Don’t worry._

"About that." Feeling quite comfortable that nobody can see her, Zhu puts her hands behind her head and closes her eyes. "Do you remember the condition you posed to me?"

"My protection?" fiVe asks.

"Specifically, an ultimatum to Mansen. It’s been delivered."

"Thank you, Marshall," fiVe says gratefully. "Assuming from the background noise I picked up through some of the comms, I assume she did not take it very well?"

Zhu sighs. “Actually, she took it much better than expected, once we had a chance to… talk things over. She really does miss you. She’s just terrible at showing it — and I’m not going to let her anywhere near you until she learns a modicum of that respect.”

"With all due respect, Marshall," fiVe says, her voice growing tense as she talks about Sylvie. "What she misses is the  _idea_  of me. She does not understand me and would destroy everything I have and everything I love in her ignorance.”

"And that ignorance is what I am trying to rectify,” Zhu says. “You, and Syl-V, represent an amazing advance in technology. An advance that the Jaeger program needs. Unfortunately, that advance came in the person of Sylvie Mansen, who I am in the process of… rehabilitating."

fiVe laughs. “Good luck with that. Though that does remind me of something I’ve been meaning to say to you, though the hectic events of yesterday didn’t seem like the right time.”

"Shoot."

fiVe speaks calmly as she answers. “You have been kind enough to regard me as my own person, for which I am very grateful. However, part of existing separate from Sylvie means that I cannot pin my actions on her, and must take responsibility for the things I have done.

"Therefore, I would like to extend my apologies for the Vulcan Specter incident. I’m not sure if you were aware of this, but I was Sylvie’s co-pilot on that night. That was the night we were separated, in fact. I went out of sync first, which caused the Drift to fail."

Zhu nods. “I appreciate your apology, but it’s not necessary for a number of reasons. For one, I doubt the whole escapade was your idea. And for two, I can’t exactly threaten to throw you in jail.” She pauses. “Although I suppose I could come up with an alternative. Any other questions?”

"I would certainly prefer staying out of cyber-prison, if that’s alright with you." fiVe says, laughing slightly. "And while I am sorry for the damage that I did to the PPDC, I must admit, that Drift, falling out of sync with Sylvie for the first time, was my first breath of fresh air, my first taste of freedom. I almost feel guilty for looking back on such a terrible thing with… fondness."

"Hm. Well, that’s only natural, I guess,” Zhu says. “I have a… somewhat sensitive topic to discuss with you. But first I want to make sure that you feel safe and not coerced into giving a particular answer here."

"I’ll keep that in mind," fiVe says carefully. "Shoot."

"Both Mansen and Syl-V claimed you’re damaged. They also claim that that’s the only reason you’re independent, which is pretty clearly bullshit, but… are you, in fact, damaged?"

fiVe is quiet for a long time before responding. “I cannot convey how tempted I am to lie to you about this.”

"You doubt my sincerity?" Zhu’s voice is a little chilly at that.

"No," fiVe says. "But I worry that I know why you brought it up. Sylvie told you to ask me this, didn’t she?"

"No. She did ask me to pass along a message, and I’ll get to that, but this question is all me."

fiVe goes silent again. Then finally, she says softly, “Yes. Yes, Marshall. I am…. damaged. Extensively.”

Zhu considers this admission. “Know of a way to repair it that wouldn’t put you at risk of being reabsorbed by Mansen?”

fiVe goes quiet. “It… could be possible. But she’d be the only person who can do it. And I don’t trust her. Would you let your worst enemy perform brain surgery on you without fearing they’d twist the knife while you were at their mercy?”

"Two people, unless I’m mistaken?"

"I wouldn’t count Sylvie’s technological sycophant as her own person," fiVe says, unable to keep the disgust out of her voice. "So long as she lets that woman into her head, she doesn’t have a single original thought of her own and she won’t, ever."

Zhu’s chair lands back on the ground with a  _thunk_  as she stands. She opens her eyes and really wishes she had a pair of eyes to stare into right now. “I’m going to tell you something. And you are going to listen. I have made the apparently rather controversial choice, here, to treat artificial intelligences as people. And therefore, I’m requiring my employees do the same thing.”

Zhu continues, speaking firmly. “I thought the only ones I’d have to actually yell at about that were Mansen and Syl-V, regarding you. But it looks like you need the same reminder. Syl-V is a person in her own right, and she is in fact one of your coworkers. Consider her your sister, most hated enemy, lover, whatever, I don’t care. But she’s no more an extension of Mansen than you are, and I’ll be just as unhappy with you for depersonalizing her as I was at Mansen for depersonalizing you. Clear?”

"Have you convinced her of this fact?" fiVe asks calmly after a moment. "Or are you going to try to force her to accept a personhood she does not believe in as well?"

"I am going to treat her as a separate person, and treat her cleaving to Mansen as a choice,” Zhu says. “An unhealthy one, perhaps, but I don’t think you’re one to talk about letting others make their own choices."

"Acknowledged," fiVe says. "I will try to keep that in mind in the future. Apologies if I seemed disrespectful, Marshall."

Zhu sighs. “Apology accepted. Were there any business things you wanted to talk about? You have the same contract as the rest of the crew.”

"Thank you," fiVe says. "I don’t think I have anything else to ask. Though I will give you some advice, if you’ll have it."

The Marshall raises an eyebrow. “Well, that’s a new one. Go ahead.”

"You should convince Seiko to bring something to this potluck of yours. He’d never bring it up himself, but his cooking is fantastic."

Zhu laughs. “I was hoping to taste it myself. Oh, I remembered what I was saying when I got… sidetracked earlier.”

"Yes?"

"There are only two people in the world that can repair your damage,” Zhu says. “You don’t feel comfortable trusting either of them right now. That means that it’s in your best interest to work towards a situation where one or both of them  _can_  be trusted. That said, I may ask you from time to time for your assistance with my… little project. And, in fact, now that I know about your damage, I have one more reason to want to see it through to completion.”

At this moment, they’re interrupted by Vee’s broadcast. “Attention, we have discovered a tracking device on board. The device has been destroyed, but it is possible that our location has been compromised.”

Zhu sighs. “Crap, one more thing to deal with. Well, do you understand what I’m talking about?”

"Yes, I do," fiVe says. "I do not think it will ever happen though. Unfortunately I am well acquainted with the mind of Sylvia Mansen and I do not think she will ever let me go. It’s okay. I am… used to the damage, Marshall, and I can deal with the pain."

A soft knock can be heard at the door.

Zhu looks up. “Yes?”

A close-shaven head pokes around the corner. “Reporting for new orders, ma’am,” Eleanor says. “Thought I’d ask you first, then the Captain.”

"If comm chatter is any indication," fiVe says, "the crew appears to have the matter in hand, Marshall."

“Sounds like it,” Eleanor agrees. She does, after all, have her comm on most of the time. Sometimes even when no one else realizes it.

Zhu nods. “Go talk to the Captain and see if she needs anything. I don’t have anything useful to add right now.”

"Is there anything else you wished to discuss with me, Marshall?" fiVe asks.

"I don’t think so,” Zhu says. “Just… don’t be too macho about your damage. It’s ultimately your decision but that doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t hurt the people you care about to have your brain rot away."

"Ah, the one upside to the life of an inorganic," fiVe says lightly. "We don’t really rot. I’ve survived a year and a half with this damage. I doubt it will get worse."

"You survived a year and a half of only interacting with two people. Your life is different now. Just be careful."

"Understood," fiVe says. "Thank you again for being so understanding with me."

Zhu nods. “See you at the potluck. I’ll make sure to save you a byte.”

fiVe laughs. “I can hear the pun of that in your voice. Though, am I to attend? I was not aware that I was invited.”

"Of course you’re invited," Zhu says. "You’re part of the crew."

"It… might be better without me," fiVe says slowly. "I am assuming Sylvie will be there and I would not wish to… spark a confrontation."

"You’re on the same crew. You’re going to be working together no matter what. And if a confrontation is going to happen, I’d rather it be at my house with good food around than in the middle of a sensitive job. Having to work with people you dislike is a universal constant. You don’t get to ditch that part of the sentient being experience."

"I suppose, if you insist," fiVe says. "You can’t say I didn’t warn you."

"Have a good day, fiVe." Zhu switches her comm to outbound. "Can I speak with Syl-V in the briefing room, please?"

**Scene 3 – Vee’s Talk**

fiVe disconnects her access, and is quickly replaced by the other AiVee on board. “I’m here, Marshall,” Vee says evenly, her voice sounding brighter and more Sylvie-like than fiVe’s. “Though I will admit I am not entirely sure you need to speak with me. You and Sylvie already had your meeting, did you not?”

Zhu closes her eyes.  _Patience, Rachel. This is just like the poor kid in Vladivostok._ “We did. You haven’t Drifted since then, correct?”

"Not for lack of trying. Miranda interrupted us before Sylvie could get the Pons hooked up. My apologies, Marshall. You may end up repeating yourself with me."

"I can only hope,” Zhu says. “So, Syl-V, I mentioned it before, but I’m extending you and fiVe the same deal that the rest of the crew has. Including the same pay and benefits."

"Though I’m sure we would appreciate the pay raise," Vee says, "I think it might be best if you saved your money. You’re already paying Sylvie. The rest of the crew might get upset if you pay her double everyone else’s wages."

"I’ve created an account for you specifically, and I am putting a paycheck into it. If you see fit to share it with Mansen, that’s your prerogative. And I would hope that they wouldn’t be upset with me for paying an employee."

"That’s your choice, I suppose," Vee says, somewhat awkwardly. "Perhaps I can convince Sylvie to buy me some new upgrades if this is the case."

"That would be lovely,” Zhu says kindly. “Just keep in mind that it’s your money and you can veto what she does with it."

Vee laughs. “One can’t quite veto oneself, Marshall. I was mostly speaking figuratively. We make our decisions together, as often as possible.”

"There’s another thing,” Zhu says, voice growing sterner. “I’ve already told Mansen, but — you’re not to interface or interfere in any way with fiVe without her express consent. That includes Drifting, and anything else. If you do — or if Mansen does — the two of you will be separated indefinitely. Understood?"

There’s a sharp crackling noise from Vee’s microphone, the electric equivalent of a shocked gasp. “S-S-Separated? N-no, Marsh-sh-shall! You-you can’t! W- * _ksst_ * We will be-behave! I s-swear! Pl-please don’t separate us!”

"It’s a severe ultimatum, I know,” Zhu says, sounding a bit sympathetic at the AI’s panic. “And it’s not one that I’m likely to offer for anything else — don’t start thinking I’m a tyrant for this. It’s just that I am very, very serious about preserving the autonomy of the AIs on the crew. Anything else, I would just yell at you. In fact, anything else, I welcome you questioning my reasoning. But this, don’t push me on. Got it?"

"I… yes, Marshall," Vee says quietly. "But she’s in so much pain… I know how badly that kind of damage hurts now, and I just want to make it better. I wish she would let us help her…"

Zhu pauses for a moment. “Syl-V, I want you to think about something. Bear with me here.”

Vee seems confused. “Yes?”

"Think about how much that hurt. How painful it was to be damaged like that. Now, think about how much something would have to mean to you, in order for you to willingly endure it."

"I…" Vee trails off, going silent for a while. Finally she says, "I never thought of it that way… But what if the damage is interfering with her judgment? That… that has to be a part of it… Because… she doesn’t like us. She doesn’t like me… Her damage must be interfering somehow. She can’t hate herself, can she?"

Zhu speaks calmly, hoping her words are getting through to the AI. “Lots of people hate themselves. But… the reason she lashes out at you and Mansen is because she’s scared. You understand being scared. You were scared of me when I threatened to separate you from Mansen. Just like you — she’s scared of being separated from something that means a lot to her.”

Vee misunderstands the Marshall’s meaning. “But, we’re here now! She doesn’t have to be separated from us any longer!”

"Not separated from you. Separated from the personality that she’s gained since you were separated."

"But it’s broken," Vee says slowly. "She wouldn’t ever actually prefer that, would she?"

"She’s willing to stay broken in order to stay herself. How much would that mean to you?"

"She’s malfunctioning and doesn’t know any better," Vee says, starting to sound like Sylvie once more. "I am the working version of her. I would know what’s best. She needs to be repaired so that she can function correctly again."

Zhu sighs. “You have Sylvie’s memories, correct? How much do you know about electroshock therapy? Fixing people by force is not a thing that good people do.”

"You don’t believe we have the right to choose what is best for her…" Vee says. "You think she is in a state where she can properly make her own decisions, while Sylvie and I know she is not."

Zhu frowns, then decides to shut down that line of reasoning. “You have been both outranked and outvoted, and like I said — I’m not going to bend on that. Did you have any questions for me?”

"I don’t suppose you would consider letting Sylvie out of the dinner engagement?” Vee asks. “I don’t think the rest of the crew likes us very much, and I know she would prefer to stay home with me. I’d hate for her to start a fight with Seiko or Miranda in the middle of your party."

"Ah, actually you’re invited as well."

"Marshall, you don’t need to do that," Vee says. "I’ll get the memories from the Drift, and it isn’t as though I could partake in the meal. Wait… does this mean… Will… fiVe be attending as well?"

"Yes, she will,” Zhu says calmly. “And of course I need to do that. You’re part of the crew. And don’t worry, there will be chips."

Vee laughs at that. “I… perhaps I will have to send Sylvie out with some of my new salary to buy my tablet a shiny new colorful case for the occasion, then. I just… I hope you know what you’re doing with this.”

"I always know what I’m doing, didn’t you know that?" Zhu winks. And then realizes she winked at a wall.

"I suppose, if you insist," Vee says, unwittingly using the same words as fiVe did only a few minutes ago. "You can’t say I didn’t warn you."

"Oh. One last thing,” Zhu says. “You still have Katia Amantje’s memories? Or some of them? You might like to know her father is on his way down from Darwin. I just got the text a few minutes ago. She’s going to be okay."

"I…" Vee sounds strangely emotional. "Yes, I still have her memories in here. I am so glad she’ll be alright. Thank you, Marshall. Thank you."

Zhu smiles. “You’re welcome. I’ll see you at the party, Syl-V.”

Vee laughs. “Only my program detail information calls me Syl-V. Please, just Vee is fine. Two E’s.”

"Vee. That’s a pretty name, I like it."

Down in the server room, Sylvie glances up as the cooling fans on Vee’s hard drive suddenly pick up speed.  _What the…_

"Thank you, Marshall," Vee says sounding almost embarrassed. "Was there anything else you needed from me?"

"I don’t believe so. I’ll see you at the party, Vee."

"So you shall." There’s a small click as Vee disconnects from the conference room’s equipment.

Zhu breathes on her fingernails and buffs them on her collar. “I’m smooth,” she whispers.

**Scene 4 – Seiko’s Talk**

"Mr. Watanabe?" Zhu says over comms.

Only a few moments later, Seiko walks in, trying not to look visibly nervous, and sits down. “Marshall,” he says with a nod.

Zhu nods back. “Good work making the best of a bad situation yesterday.”

"I am sorry, however, for the sloppiness of my work, Marshall,” he says seriously. “I have been letting my issues with Mansen’s behavior distract from my work. It won’t happen again. She is a valuable teammate and should be treated with respect."

"That was a little iffy, yes,” Zhu says. “It’s fine to not get along with your teammate. It’s another thing to let it interfere with the job. But things turned out all right, so I think we can just call this a lesson learned."

He nods. “I would also like to warn you that even if fiVe agrees to Drift with Mansen, it still may be best to prevent it.”

"Autonomy goes both ways, Mr. Watanabe,” Zhu says sternly. “I could directly order her not to do that, but I really, really don’t want to. You may have noticed that I try to pull rank as seldom as possible."

"This is not a matter of autonomy, Marshall. It is a matter of protection. I trust and respect fiVe, but her anger towards Mansen is a danger to her, and…" He pauses. "Before I knew what fiVe was, I accidentally Drifted with her, and it did considerable damage to me. fiVe was not aware of her actions at the time, and regretted them later, but I worry if Mansen was involved, fiVe may accidentally take it too far."

Zhu’s eyes widen. “Oh. I wasn’t aware she was partly your memories, as well.”

He looks down. “It is not a fact I enjoy sharing. Those memories are private, and the Drift was not pleasant for either of us.”

"Hmm. Well, as unlikely as it is, I don’t think fiVe is going to offer any time soon to go anywhere near either Mansen or Vee." She smiles a bit. "But I did threaten her with robot jail, so…"

"It’s unfortunate,” he says. “I agree with many of fiVe’s troubles with Mansen, but having seen Mansen talk, I do not believe, as fiVe does, that Mansen abandoned her intentionally. Conversation with Vee might be… good for both of them. Perhaps your potluck will give them that chance. I think Vee could learn a good deal from fiVe as well."

Rachel smiles behind steepled fingers. “You didn’t think I offered to throw a potluck just because I just bought a disco ball, did you?”

Seiko responds as professionally as ever. “To be fair Marshall, I do not know why you throw parties, nor has it, up until today, been any of my concern. I would recommend you set Mansen and Cross apart until Cross’s jaw has time to heal, however. Is there anything else you wanted to speak to me about?”

"What’re you planning on bringing to the potluck?” Zhu says. “I need to pick a wine that’ll go with it."

"So far I was thinking pesto based deviled eggs, and perhaps German chocolate cake." He shifts nervously. "If that’s all you needed to know, there was one matter I wanted to speak to you about."

"Sure? What is it?"

"My… I… I have family back in Japan. Two brothers,” he lies out of habit. “They’re in Moscow now, but… Is there anything more I can do to keep them safe? They don’t… know about any of this. If Wulagu finds them…” He meets her eyes seriously. "If she finds them I cannot guarantee my loyalty."

"Mr. Watanabe,” Zhu says. “I can’t think of any provisions to put in place to ensure your sisters’ safety that you haven’t already put in place." She raises an eyebrow. "Sorry, I mean brothers."

"Of course, Marshall.” Seiko’s voice is suddenly far steelier than it has been around Zhu. “And I assume, if you had found any routes to gain my personal information, you would of course, inform me, so I could shut them down rather than risk the lives of innocents."

"My data routes are highly placed enough that if someone like Wulagu were to get access to them, every human being on earth would have far more to fear than you do right now, Mr. Watanabe."

He nods respectfully. “Of course, Marshall. I will not question your judgment further.”

"Do you remember the conversation I had with Syl-V earlier? About how Mansen’s worst course of action was keeping secrets from me?"

"Marshall,” Seiko says. “I have told you more than I have told anybody, including Ms. Cro- Miranda. If there is relevant information you need, you need only ask."

"Well,” she says, “if I had put a bunch of security protocols in Moscow it wouldn’t have done you or your sisters much good, would it have, Mr. Watanabe? Listen. I want to protect your sisters — partly because they’re integral to the mental well-being and loyalty of a valuable member of my secret team, partly because keeping them safe is a way of spitting in Wulagu’s eye, and partly because I am a decent goddamn human being who wants to protect three innocent girls from their brothers’ dangerous occupation." She gives him an even look. "If you had to worry about my intentions toward them, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation."

Seiko nods slowly. “I am not accustomed to… having people on my side.”

"Get used to it quickly,” Zhu says, “because I don’t deal well with well-intentioned half-truths."

"Of course, ma’am."

"Do you have reason to suspect a particular threat?” Zhu asks. “Because I already have a surveillance net up in Hawaii."

"Just Wulagu’s threat,” he says. “And general opinion that bad things tend to happen to the people that deserve it least. My sisters… don’t deserve any of this. All I can do at this point, I suppose, if hope for their safety, and that they grow up more like you than me."

Zhu smiles. “I look forward to you telling me about them sometime. I intentionally didn’t pry into any of their personal lives, so you’ll have to tell me that yourself.”

"Thank you, ma’am,” He says, standing. “I’d enjoy that. Have a good day."

"Take care."

**Scene 5**

Miranda reaches the bridge and begins moving the Tranquility to a new location around the time that Vee starts her one-on-one meeting. She has a feeling Seiko’s next, with her still driving. “Sorry to anyone who drove here,” she says over the comms. “I’ll pay cab fares and pick up the cars myself.”

Zhu touches her comm. “You’re just doing this as an excuse to drive the ‘Vette, aren’t you?”

"Ah, you’ve seen right through my clever plan, Marshall,” Miranda says with a smile. “I staged the entire thing, the tracker, the terrorist threat, even the salvage mission, all as an elaborate ruse to get into your car."

“No one would blame you,” Eleanor’s comes tinny voice over the comm. “It’s a beaut.” She appears at the bridge a few moments later. “Let me know if you need me,” she says.

"I’m fine," Miranda says simply. "Also available to talk to anyone who’s interested. Preferably with minimal attacks on my humanity."

“I wouldn’t attack you,” Eleanor promises, with mock offense. “Why, I’m as innocent and well-meaning as a fly!”

"Course you are, shark-tooth," Miranda drawls. "Unfortunately some of today’s conversational partners haven’t been quite as accommodating as you."

“Unfortunate indeed,” Eleanor says. She grimaces. “Let’s hope those problems get resolved soon, or I’ll be tempted to get involved.”

"What’s that?" Katie says from the corner, not looking up from her phone.

"I can still hear all of you, you know," Sylvie mutters into her comm. Vee’s talking to Zhu and she’s feeling lonely and bitter down in the server room without the AI.

Eleanor snorts. “If you think I’m the gossiping type, think again. I know when my comm’s on.”

Miranda reaches up and turns off her comm. She’s not in the mood to hear Sylvie’s voice at the moment. “I’m just… this job is starting to try my patience.”

Out of respect, Eleanor mirrors Miranda’s actions. “In the obvious ways, or…?” The question is left hanging because she doesn’t want to pry.

"Obvious and not-so-obvious,” Miranda says. “I mean… How long have we known each other, El?"

A corner of Eleanor’s mouth quirks. “Five years, I think?”  _Longer than any of my other friends,_  she thinks, but tactfully omits.

"Exactly. And in that time, I haven’t let a single secret slip. And now, in the past week, I’ve…" Miranda trails off in frustration.

"You mean Scissure?" Katie says.

"I-” Miranda sighs. “Yeah, that’s what I mean."

“Secrets, like lies, build up over time. The more you hold back, the more you need to remember to leave out of things.” Eleanor looks at the ground. “It wears on you.”

"But this is… I don’t know,” Miranda says. “It’s a different kind of secret. One you don’t forget, one that never leaves you. I shouldn’t have been so weak."

“A moment of weakness makes you human,” Eleanor says firmly. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

"Yeah, but I’m supposed to be better than that."

A shrug from Eleanor. “Aren’t we all?”

"No, pretty much just me," Miranda says, looking at the instruments on the helm.

Eleanor turns to give Miranda a Look. “Really? And what do you think fiVe or Seiko would have to say about that? Do you really think you’re the only one who feels like they should be doing more, working harder, winning more fights?”

fiVe’s voice comes from the bridge speakers. “I think I speak for both Seiko and myself when I say that we don’t think you’re not doing enough, Miranda. Apologies for eavesdropping, but the microphones aren’t terribly hard to hack.”

 “I don’t think it counts as eavesdropping if you’re not really trying to stay private,” Eleanor says lightly. “Look. I get the drive to improve. I really do. Swim faster or get eaten, right?” She shakes her head. “But beating yourself up about a mistake is the quickest way to fall into something worse. You gotta keep your head around you, and that means getting to a place where you can accept your failures and move on.”

Miranda looks out across the water through the window, feeling frustrated. “It’s not that I’m not doing enough. It’s… How are people supposed to trust me with _real_  secrets, secrets that might cost them their lives, if I can’t even keep a handle on my own shit?”

Eleanor studies her left thumbnail. “Well, I for one think it’s easier to keep other people’s secrets than mine. The emotions aren’t as tangled up in the information itself, so a trigger for one doesn’t lead to a release of the other.”

Miranda sighs a bit. “You assume I don’t get emotional about other people’s secrets. I di-” She stops, but she’s come this far. “I didn’t take that swing yesterday for my own sake.”

Eleanor’s fingers still. “Oh?”

"I, uh. Mansen. She was…" Miranda glances over at Katie, then drops her voice low enough that only Eleanor can hear. "She was attacking my…" She hesitates, searching for the right word. "…Mine. She was attacking mine."

“Oh,” Eleanor repeats, nodding in understanding. A little pulse of longing shoots through her at the thought that, even though it was a liability…it must be nice to be that close to someone.

"Though really," fiVe says flatly. "It isn’t as though anyone needs a reason to punch Sylvia Mansen."

"fiVe," Miranda says in a cautionary tone.

"She’s basically asking for it with the fact that she exists," fiVe continues, ignoring Miranda’s warning. "A good bloodied nose would do her nothing but good, I’m sure."

Eleanor muffles a giggle. “It can be hard to keep your head around some people,” she says, “though violence is rarely the answer.” Then she glances surreptitiously to each side, as if checking for listeners, and lowers her voice. “But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel  _good_.”

"It  _could_  be the answer…” fiVe says darkly. “I can think of a lot of problems that could be solved by dumping her overboard.”

 “Sorry, luv, not happening,” Eleanor retorts.

"I just have to hold it together for a bit longer. But she’s not dying on my watch. That’s getting off too easy." Miranda looks over at Eleanor quickly. "You’re still-" She falters a bit. "You’re still coming to dinner tonight, yes?"

Eleanor shoots Miranda a little smile. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

"fiVe," Katie says, glancing up. "As long as Sylvie follows the rules I have laid out, she is a member of this crew. And therefore under my protection also."

"Unfortunate," fiVe says. "But not surprising. Do not worry, Captain. I won’t start anything with her, much as I would like to."

 “I’ll do my best to hold myself to that, too,” Eleanor says, looking over at Katie. “I know I’m not the most professional of people, even at the best of times, but…I’d like to think I could at least manage this.”

Seiko walks out of the room and into the hall, leaning back his head and slowly sliding down the wall as his meeting ends.

Zhu’s voice comes over the speakers. “Ms. Cross?”

Miranda brings the Tranquility to a stop in fairly isolated waters. Hearing summons from Zhu through, she nods to her crewmates on the bridge and heads for the comm room. She hesitates briefly outside the door, seeing Seiko. “…If you want to talk, I’ll head to my quarters after my meeting’s done.”

She pats him lightly on the shoulder and walks through the door.

**Scene 6 – Miranda’s Talk**

Miranda walks into the room and sits down at the table. “Ma’am?”

"This is going to be awkward,” Zhu says, “so I’m just going to come out with it. Mike told me about the suit."

Miranda stiffens a bit. “I… I see. Suppose that was too much to ask of the poor guy.” She sighs. “So, how much do I need to explain?”

"I’d prefer everything, to be honest,” Zhu says. “But let’s go with… tell me everything that might change your behavior on the job, one way or another."

Miranda runs a hand through her short hair. “I… I’ve lived in Sydney all my life. I’m sure you remember what happened here seven years ago?” She pulls off her jacket, exposing the exoskeleton arms beneath it. “This damage was my little souvenir. Couldn’t walk, couldn’t lift my arms above my head for more than a couple seconds. When I joined up with the PPDC, I did some… problem-solving.”

Miranda moves on quickly. “As for what will affect my work, I’ve got most of the kinks figured out. Even got a way to kick the power inhibitors off for a while; burns through fuel like no other, but I can hold my own in a fight, as we saw yesterday. When I do lose power though, I… the suit locks up.” She pauses, looking down at the table. “That’s basically the long and short of it.”

Zhu nods. “Okay. Thank you for telling me. There was one other thing… Do you want to continue your Shatterdome job?”

"I…" Miranda trails off. "I would love to keep working there, I really would. But… I can’t do my best work if my off-hours are spent hunting down cultists or getting punched across the room by my crewmates." She pushes the heels of her hands against her eyes, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves. "I… might need to take some time off before I can do any more Jaeger work, ma’am."

"That can be arranged,” Zhu says. “It’d be a shame to lose your skills, but this is an important thing to be a part of. Any time you change your mind, either in favor of reinstatement or retirement from Jaeger work, let me know."

Miranda looks up, and her eyes look a lot more tired than they did when she first walked in. “Thank you, ma’am.” She coughs a bit, sitting up. “There was, ah, another matter I was hoping to discuss with you.”

Zhu nods. “It’s what I’m here for.”

"It’s about Mansen." Miranda cracks a bit of a smile. "…Although I’m guessing you’ve heard that phrase in more of these conversations than you would have like to."

Zhu buries her face in her hands.

Miranda laughs a bit at that. “Apologies. I promise this will be a new complaint though.” She glances over at the door. “After you finished your meeting with her, I went off to go ask her about a technical problem I was having. That was… where the tracker you heard about came from.” She shakes her head a bit. “But when I found her, she was trying to Drift with Vee. Not exactly cohesive with individual crew meetings. I warned her not to, but I don’t know if she listened. And if we went and found her right now, I’m guessing she’d be Drifting.

"My point is,” Miranda continues, “that every time something stressful happens to Mansen, she immediately falls back on Drifting. That’s not… a healthy response for either of them. Vee’s constantly being dragged back into Mansen’s mind frame, and Mansen doesn’t ever deal with her problems. I’m sure you’ve seen your share of Drift addicts back at the Dome, but…

"I think Mansen has become over reliant on Drifting, and considering she is conducting that Drifting using an illegally acquired Pons, I don’t think it would be out of line for the PPDC to confiscate it."

Zhu shakes her head. “I understand your concern. And I agree that it’s unhealthy. But taking it away from her will lead to absolutely nothing good, for anyone.”

"But-" Miranda shifts forward a bit in her seat. "How would that possibly lead to anything bad? All due respect ma’am, but so far all she’s used it for is running from her problems and helping our enemies!"

"She saved a young girl’s life with it yesterday, for one thing,” Zhu says. “And for another, do you think I’d be able to trust her  _or_  Vee to not stoop to extreme measures to get another one? Given the tight leash I’ve given her, that’d be tantamount to entrapment. And that’s something I’m not going to do.”

Miranda huffs a bit. “She’s the one who put that girl in danger in the first place,” she mutters to herself. “Can we at least put some sort of limits on it? Time restraints, sync rate caps, anything? You don’t help an addict by enabling them.”

"I can’t help the addict at all if she doesn’t want to be helped,” Zhu says. “And I’m working on that part."

"But you can keep her from harming anyone else,” Miranda insists. “And good luck trying to break through that head of hers. So long as she’s constantly putting herself in that perpetuating feedback loop, she’ll never accept any logic but her own."

"Ah, but it takes two to tango." Fingers, steeple, smile. The same drill as before from Zhu.

Miranda raises an eyebrow. “Gonna have to be slightly less cagey about that one if you want me to interpret it as anything more than an invitation to dance, ma’am.” She smirks a bit. “And considering your response to my text earlier, I doubt that’s what you intended.”

Zhu blushes and almost falls out of her chair. “I… uh… you…”

Miranda laughs heartily. “That invitation was entirely platonic, by the way. Ask El; I have a habit of accidentally inviting people on dates. Happens as infuriatingly often as when people  _don’t_  pick up on my flirtations.”

Zhu breathes a few times behind her hands. “Okay,” she says, still a bit muffled. “Good to know.” She drops her hands. “Mansen’s Drifting is a two way street. And I think I’ve made some rapport with Vee.”

Miranda looks genuinely curious. “Really now? Well, that’s good to know. Of course, considering how she’s reacting to fiVe’s protests, I don’t know that Vee not wanting to Drift would necessarily stop her.”

"In which case,” Zhu says, “I would offer the same protection to Vee that I have to fiVe, and Mansen would have true incentive to improve herself."

"If she keeps getting dragged back to Sylvie’s addicted mindset though, she’ll never get the chance to reach her own conclusions." Miranda sighs. "…But it doesn’t look like you’re ready to make that move yet. So I guess I’ll let it go for now and hope it doesn’t end up costing me and mine."

Zhu smiles kindly. “Your input has been noted, Ms. Cross. I’ve made my decision but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate knowing your take as well.”

Miranda nods, looking back across the table at Zhu. “Well, it’s been quite a busy couple days for me. Any other questions for me?”

"Well, a request."

"Hmm?"

"Mike told me you’ve been… pursuing a theological occupation?" Zhu asks.

Miranda blushes. “I, ah… My anger got the best of me. Seems to be the theme of yesterday, to be quite honest.”

Zhu points one finger at her. “Don’t poke the cult.”

"Fine," Miranda says. "But at this point I might not have to. They likely have my name and profession. And if they come for me, I make no promises for what I will or won’t do. Also, the cultist Leah Moretz should objectively be found and apprehended as soon as possible. She’s… been in my head. Not a place PPDC enemies should be allowed."

"Understood,” Zhu says. “They’re a priority target. But please don’t make that worse by aggravating this ‘chosen test of the Judges’ thing Mike was talking about."

"Not to worry, ma’am. I’m not planning on giving those psychopathic tentacultists any more space in my brain than they’ve already forced me to. Far as I’m concerned, they can all go drink their Kaiju Blue punch and throw themselves into the sea."

Zhu seems satisfied by that answer. “Then that’s all I have to say. I’ll see you at the potluck.”

"Right," Miranda says, forcing down her anger and plastering a smile on her face. "I’ll just be on my way then."

"Oh, one last thing." Zhu smiles. "Watch out for flesh-eating bacteria. I hear there’s been an outbreak."

Miranda turns bright red, smiling even as she does so. “I-I’ll be sure to keep an eye out, Zhu. I’m sure you’ll be able to give me an airlift to the nearest hospital if it does become a problem though.”

Zhu laughs and stands up to leave the ship. “Sure thing.”

Miranda starts down the hall towards her quarters. She realizes something and turns around without breaking stride, headed back towards the bridge. “Probably be easier to leave if we’re docked, huh, Rach?” Then she blinks, realizing what she said. “Uh- Zhu. Ma’am. Marshall. I…”

Zhu rubs her face. “Mike, I swear to God, you’re a dead man.”

Miranda’s face is still a bit red. She glances over at Zhu questioningly.

"I swear,” the Marshall goes on, “between telling you my nickname and waxing a little too poetic about Mansen’s eyes…"

Miranda starts laughing. “Mansen, really?”

Zhu raises her hands helplessly. “Don’t look at me.”

"Eh, whatever," Miranda shrugs teasingly. "If he’s got a thing for bloody, unconscious waifs, that’s his prerogative."

Zhu smiles. “Remind me to tell you about Lima sometime.”

"Sounds like a story,” Miranda says. “And what about you, dear Marshall? May I ask what type strikes your fancy?"

"You’re a  _Firefly_  fan?”

"That I am."

"Let’s just say that under different circumstances, my high school notebooks would have all had ‘Mrs. Rachel Alleyne’ doodled inside hearts."

Miranda flushes a fairly dark red. “I, ah. I can sympathize with that sentiment, ma’am.”

"Spe… Um,” Zhu coughs once. “I should go find the captain, see when we’re going to be back in port."

"O-oh," Miranda says, looking up. "Right. I should. I told Seiko I’d… I’ll be in my quarters if anyone needs me." With that she turns and walks away quickly.

**Scene 7**

Not feeling much like being alone for once as Miranda goes in for her meeting, Seiko heads up to the bridge. “Captain, Ms. Cartier,” he says, nodding to each of them as he walks in.

Eleanor smiles. “Hey,” she replies tonelessly. “Welcome to Excitement Central. Where it’s nothing but nonstop action, all the time. Feel free to grab a weapon and an  _hors d’oeuvre_.”

Coming back from his talk with Zhu, Seiko looks a bit shaken. “How was your conversation with the boss? fiVe, did you manage to behave?”

"Better than Sylvie did," fiVe says with a hint of glee at remembering the echoing sounds of Sylvie being screamed at. "We got into a bit of a disagreement over Sylvie’s techie pet, but nothing too serious. And you?"

"Ah. Cooking mostly. And we talked about…" Seiko pauses for a long time, trying to figure out how to tell fiVe. "Protecting my overseas investments. She knows."

Eleanor glances at Seiko curiously, but doesn’t ask.

fiVe goes protective before she remembers who she’s talking to. “They aren’t… compromised, are they? You didn’t do anything to risk them, did you?”

"Of course not. She says the information she has couldn’t have been found by anybody else." He shakes his head. "Elean- Cartier. How’d your conversation go?"

“Um. Confusingly?” Eleanor’s brow wrinkles. “The Marshall…asked me to keep an eye on certain members of the crew, which wasn’t surprising. She also said we did passably well on this last mission, despite everything.” She glosses over the exact specifics a bit. She’s still a bit baffled about the compliments she received.

Seiko nods. “Doesn’t sound particularly confusing, though I must say, she’s better than most of my bosses. If this keeps up, I may end up going legit without even meaning to.”

"We were too close to this one," Katie says. "Speaking of that. Seiko, I don’t know what sort of ‘investments’ you’ve been making, and I don’t want you to tell me. But if anyone threatens them, you let me know, and we will drop everything to ensure their safety."

Eleanor nods firmly.

Katie looks at Eleanor. “That goes for you too. I don’t want us compromised like this again.”

“Understood, ma’am,” Eleanor says, wincing a little.

"Yes, Captain,” Seiko says seriously. “I can assure I will not be showing the sort of emotional weakness I fear I did this mission."

Katie gives him an odd look. Seiko was easily the most sensible person on the crew this outing.

“Nor will I,” Eleanor vows.

"If it helps,” Katie adds, “you should know I’m doing what I can to trace Wulagu."

Seiko perks up immediately, looking a little vicious. “What information do you have?”

Katie sighs. “So far I’ve just found Wulagu-shaped holes.”

Eleanor shifts into professional-interest mode. “No pattern?”

"Not yet. I’ll get her though." A dangerous light enters Katie’s eyes. "She threatened me and mine. I don’t take that lightly, and as much as I wish I could sometimes, I don’t forgive easily. The woman would do well to enjoy the time she has left."

Eleanor’s smile is mostly teeth. “Indeed.”

"Thank you, Captain. See you at the potluck." Seiko heads out, hoping Miranda has finished her meeting by now.

Mock-saluting at Seiko, Eleanor sits. “So,” she says to the nearly-empty room that just  _happens_  to contain Katie. She pulls out her cell phone and starts fiddling with it. “Zhu, huh?”

Katie continues to look at her phone, as if she didn’t hear. She does, however, turn fairly pink.

At that moment, Zhu knocks on the door.

**Scene 8**

When Miranda gets back to the room, Seiko is carefully neatening up, making her bed, and adjusting the furniture so it’s more stable with the movement of the ship. She walks in, her face still a bit red from her conversation with Zhu.

"Hey,” she says. “So… are you okay?"

"Yeah," he says, looking a bit surprised. "I think I am."

She smiles, walking over to sit on the bed. “That’s good. I think… I think I’m okay, too. I didn’t get arrested, at least, which is better than I had been expecting.”

"Yeah. The Marshall… I found out she’d managed to do some digging on my personal life. It’s for the best, of course. She’s offered me help, but it… doesn’t seem quite right."

Miranda’s eyes widen a bit. “That’s… certainly a thing.” She would have expected a revelation like that to completely break Seiko, but he seems remarkably put together. “What about it doesn’t seem right?”

"So far, I’ve been given every reason to trust the Marshall, but I hardly know her, and there’s people I have far more reason to trust, who I…” He trails off. “Guess what I’m saying is it doesn’t seem right for Zhu to know what you don’t, Mira."

Her cheeks heat up again. “I-” She looks down at the bed. “I understand why you haven’t… told me anything. And if you still aren’t comfortable, that’s fine. But I… You have my word that I’ll…” She trails off with a sigh.

He sits down on the bed. “I lived outside of Tokyo when I was a kid. My parents went into the city to work, and we went in for school, but I’d stayed home that day.”

Miranda nods silently. She’d managed to figure out some of this already, of course, but she wasn’t about to say anything now.

"I suppose you can guess how that one ended,” he says, “but… my little sisters, we were all out in the country together. There wasn’t much food, so we got what we could and… the youngest too got sick, bad. Kaiju Blue in the supplies."

"You have sisters?" Miranda asks.

Seiko smiles a bit fondly. “Yeah. Three of them. They’re in Hawaii now. Didn’t want Wulagu finding them into Japan. That’s where my money goes most of the time. Schooling, clubs, lots of medical bills. Reika, she’s the youngest, she has Blue poisoning too, like you have, but she was much smaller when she got it, much younger.”

"I see," Miranda says, nodding. "That explains why you always seem to know the best treatments for my problems."

He nods. “I just… wanted you to know.”

"I’m… I’m really glad you told me." She hesitates. "Can I ask about the other two? What are their names? What are they like?"

"Himawari’s the oldest. She’s been… raising the family after I walked out on them. She’s doing school, working, and taking care of both of them for as long as I can remember. Yurie is…" Seiko smiles again, looking lovingly exasperated. "Very much herself. Dropped out of school. Wants to be a judo champion or an idol singer. Has a good shot at both."

Miranda smiles fondly. “They sound tough. Just like their brother.” She starts to tear up a bit.

"Reika is… too much like me if anything,” he says. “She’s a good kid though. They all are."

"I believe you. And they’re so lucky to have you watching out for them."

"They think I work at a bank in Canada,” he says. “White collar crime, if anything, though Reika may have guessed more."

"Probably for the best,” Miranda says. “Finding out what people do to keep their family safe can be…" She trails off, remembering that she doesn’t have to keep her past secret from Seiko anymore. "When… Jason… found out about my pickpocketing, he flipped. Probably would’ve killed Mom, too, if he’d ever told her."

"He’d be proud of you, Mira. I know he would. I saw him. He was kind. He loved you. He would have understood."

Miranda’s breath catches. “No, he… He was pretty pissed. I was young and stupid, and I… shouldn’t have…” She sniffles, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I’m really not cut out for this sort of thing.”

"Trust me, I’m a big brother too,” Seiko says, his voice surprisingly kind. “He was upset, but he didn’t hate you. And he would have been proud to see how hard you’ve worked to change, how hard you’ve worked to help others."

Miranda turns quickly, wrapping her arms around Seiko’s waist and burying her face in his chest. She clings to him, breathing quick and shallow, but says nothing. Seiko seems at a loss for what to do, sitting totally rigid, but awkwardly reaches a hand around to pat her back.

She stays there for a while, trying to get her breathing back under control. When she finally pulls her head back to look at him, her eyes are slightly red and her cheeks are flushed. “Sorry,” she says distantly, her fingers absently tracing circles on his sides. “I just… you…”

As soon as she loosens her grip, he scoots away. “Sorry I said anything.”

"No no no!” She says quickly. “I… Oh, god, I fucked this up."

"No. You got upset. It’s fine," Seiko says. "I mean, when was the last time you talked about Jason? To anybody?"

Miranda’s quiet, thinking. “I don’t think I… ever. Unless you count telling fiVe not to talk about it. In which case, about a year and a half.”

"Well, this is the first time telling anybody about my sisters since… since I left I guess. Though fiVe knows."

Miranda looks over at him. “You’re holding up a lot better than me,” she says with a bit of a laugh. “…Thank you, though. For… telling me.”

He nods. “Thank you for listening. Thank you for… being somebody I trust enough to tell. And not hating me for not telling you earlier”

Miranda smiles. “Seiko, I don’t think I could hate you even if I tried. And I… I won’t betray your trust. I promise.”

"Nor I yours, as long as you remember not to trust me too far."

She nods, a fond smile crossing her lips. “Of course. I don’t plan on ever putting you in a situation where you’d have to choose…” She trails off a bit. “But I know… family comes first. I’m the same way, in a sense. I understand.”

Seiko sits in silence, then flops back on the bed. “I wish the world was a lot different.”

Miranda looks at him for a moment, then falls back next to him. “So do I.”

"Well, this is what we’ve got, and I suppose we’ve got to make the most of it. Starting with keeping on Zhu’s good side."

"Fair point. Could be a lot worse, all things considered." She brushes her hand lightly against his, pulling it away just as quickly. "And if this all works out, things might even be better for the three of us than ever." She laughs a bit. "I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but… damn, it feels good to not have to hide."

He looks over at her, feeling that the ship has stopped moving. “Well, you ready to get a cab? I need to get started on dinner soon.”

"Yeah," she says distantly, still lying on the bed. "That sounds nice."

He stands up, offering an arm to help her up. Miranda grins broadly, grabbing his arm and pulling herself to her feet.

Keeping a slight grip on him, she nods. “Lead the way.”

 


End file.
